Space.com
By
June 20, 2023
Astronomers have discovered what is only the second example of a white dwarf pulsar.
The rare stellar remnant is spinning rapidly, and as it does so, it lashes powerful beams of electrical particles and radiation at a red dwarf companion star causing the whole system to dramatically fade and brighten over regular periods.
This pulsar activity is believed to be driven by strong magnetic fields, but scientists aren’t sure what causes them. One explanation is a model that suggests white dwarfs have dynamos in their core like that of Earth, which generates its magnetosphere, albeit a much more powerful version. Studying the system could confirm this mechanism and could also grant scientists new insights into stellar evolution.