Researchers have identified a peculiar radio signal that has been emanating from a distant region of space every two hours for the past decade.

This unprecedented source of radio pulsations has been traced to a binary star system containing a white dwarf, as reported by scientists associated with the investigation.

The binary system features a white dwarf star and a red dwarf star orbiting each other in close proximity, causing their magnetic fields to interact and generate a long radio pulse.

The regularity of the orbital period—approximately 125 minutes—produces a consistent pulsation, akin to a cosmic clock.

Located about 1,600 light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major, the system identified as ILTJ1101 was initially revealed by Dutch scientist Iris de Ruiter, currently affiliated with the University of Sydney, in 2024.

This finding marks the first recorded instance of a long-duration repeating radio pulse originating from a source other than highly magnetized neutron stars, commonly known as magnetars.

Initially, only one star in the system was visible, but further data analysis uncovered additional characteristics of this unusual binary system, including the presence of the red dwarf star.

Red dwarfs are smaller, cooler stars that may reach only a fraction of the size of our Sun.

In a notable observation, the red dwarf star exhibited unusual motion, oscillating around a central point in regular two-hour intervals, suggesting a gravitational pull from an unseen companion star.

Calculations indicate that this hidden companion is likely a typical white dwarf.

White dwarfs are the remnants of stars that have exhausted their nuclear fuel and ejected their outer layers, leaving behind a hot, dense core.

Due to their low luminosity, these white dwarfs are not visible with even the most powerful telescopes, which accounts for their prior absence from observational records.