Scientists Traced The Mysterious Radio Signals From A Vampire Star

The clashing magnetic fields of a white dwarf star and its neighboring red dwarf star are the source of signals from space that have remained a puzzle for over 20 years, radio astronomers in Australia have found.

The signals, or long-period radio transients, are a class of celestial radio emissions discovered in 2005. Most radio-producing objects release bursts that last for mere seconds or less, but long-period radio transients, about a dozen of which are known, produce radio waves in bursts lasting from minutes to over an hour.

Speculation had focused on highly magnetic pulsars called magnetars as the origin of these radio bursts, but now new research led by Kovi Rose of the University of Sydney, using the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope, has shown that symbiotic binaries are to blame for at least some long-period radio transients.

Symbiotic binaries feature a compact object — usually a white dwarf, which is the core remains of a sun-like star — stealing matter from a close companion star. This scenario often leads to a nova explosion when too much material accretes onto the surface of the white dwarf.

"Long-period radio transients have puzzled astronomers for years," said Rose, who is a postgrad student, in a statement. "Now we've been able to show that the source for one of these transients comes from a white dwarf actively pulling material from a companion star."

The system in question has been catalogued as ASKAP J1745-5051, and features a white dwarf that is about the diameter of Earth but a mass similar to that of our sun, accreting matter from a red dwarf star with a mass just a tenth of our sun's mass.

What makes ASKAP J1745-5051 stand out is that not only does it produce these long-period radio bursts, but it also produces blasts of X-rays.

"These emissions are all tied to the orbital motion of the system," said Rose. "But interestingly, the radio and X-ray signals don't peak at the same time, which tells us they're being produced in different regions of the system."

The X-rays are produced as matter spirals in from the red dwarf onto the white dwarf. As it gets closer to the white dwarf, gravity causes it to bunch up, friction increasing the temperature to hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of degrees, which is hot enough to emit X-rays. Exactly where it bunches depends on the relative positions of the white dwarf and red dwarf.

The origin of the radio waves is more complex. Both the white dwarf and the red dwarf have their own intrinsic magnetic fields. Their orbit around each other, which takes just 1.4 hours to complete, is not circular but strongly elliptical, meaning that at times the two objects are closer together than at other times. When they are close their magnetic fields clash, stripping charged particles from each other's surface. These charged particles then spiral around the magnetic-field lines and release a form of radio waves known as synchrotron radiation. The radio bursts last for the duration that the magnetic fields are in contact, every 1.4 hours.

While this explains ASKAP J1745-5051, it does not necessarily explain all long-period radio transients. For instance, only one other has been shown to produce X-rays. It is therefore possible that some other long-period radio transients have a different origin. However, Rose hopes that this new research will help distinguish between the different types.

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US NAS Head Pushed For Innovation

The past year has been "filled with turmoil" in science policy, National Academy of Sciences (NAS) president Marcia McNutt said last 2 June during the annual State of the Science address in Washington, D.C.

McNutt cited problems such as "uncertainty" over federal support for science, "abrupt downsizing" of science agencies, a mass exodus of federal employees and the fact that the world’s top scientific minds are leaving the U.S.

"We always were the country where STEM talent came to us," McNutt said, referring to science, technology, engineering and math fields. "Now we are exporting our science talent elsewhere." After about 10 years as president of NAS, McNutt plans to step down on 30 June.

Since President Donald Trump took office last year, U.S. science has been a target for funding cuts, firings and intense regulatory scrutiny. By one estimate, around 100,000 federal employees at scientific agencies have either been fired or left public office in his second term. The administration has also cut nearly 8,000 scientific grants, mostly from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, according to a Nature analysis published in January (some grants have since been reinstated by the courts).

And just last week, as Scientific American reported, the administration published a proposal to give political appointees final say on grant funding instead of researchers, overturning a decades-long precedent. "Now, what could possibly go wrong with that?" McNutt quipped.

"Frustrated and demoralized as many of us are right now, we must consider what is in our power, as a research community, to improve while, at the same time, pushing back against inappropriate political interference in research," she said.

To make science more "resilient" and "competitive," McNutt said that scientists should partner with industry—and that universities should support researchers who do so. And she urged scientists to train students to take science-adjacent jobs outside of academia.

Without bridging the gap between industry and science, she warned, the "best and brightest" students may "shun" careers in science, "domestic talent" will continue to seek opportunities abroad, and the economy will suffer.

The speech was met with some skepticism from scientists and science advocates who called attention to the threats facing U.S. research. "This focus on the private sector as we are facing down complete and total destruction of actual SCIENCE is unreal to me," wrote Colette Delawalla, founder and CEO of Stand Up for Science, in a post on Bluesky. "We are doing publicly-funded free training for companies ... this is the selling out of science to the Tech Bros," she added.

McNutt also recommended cutting red tape and lowering regulatory hurdles for researchers, as well as furthering reliance on artificial intelligence to "increase the rate of discovery."

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Experts Believed That Pilgrims Buried The "Diriyah Treasure"

Some archaeologists in Saudi Arabia have unearthed a clay pot full of gold, silver and gemstone-encrusted jewelry that may have been buried by an Islamic pilgrim en route to Mecca more than a millennium ago.

The team nicknamed the hoard the "Diriyah Treasure" after the archaeological site where it was discovered. Located on the outskirts of Riyadh, Diriyah was a key station on the Hajj route for Islamic pilgrims between Basra, Iraq, and Mecca, Saudi Arabia. According to archaeologists with the Saudi Heritage Commission who have been excavating Diriyah for six years, radiocarbon analysis of organic remains puts the main settlement in the period of 743 to 753.

During the recent excavation season, archaeologists discovered gypsum water basins and the walls of several residential buildings. Inside the structures, they found fragments of pottery and glass — but the buried ceramic jar containing over 100 pieces of jewelry was a surprise.

"One of the most important discoveries of this sixth season was the uncovering of the "Diriyah Treasure," which consists of a collection of gold pieces, gemstones and oxidized copper fragments," a laboratory expert with the Saudi Heritage Commission said in a translated video.

Although Diriyah is better known for being the first Saudi state and the original location of the House of Saud (the ruling family of Saudi Arabia) beginning in the 18th century, its history goes back much further.

The treasure hoard was likely buried during the early years of the Abbasid caliphate, which came to power in 750 and was destroyed by the Mongols in 1258. Named after one of Muhammad's uncles, the Abbasid caliphs helped usher in the Islamic Golden Age in which cultural and scientific activity flourished. Geographically, the Abbasid Empire stretched from North Africa to Iran but was concentrated primarily in the Arabian Peninsula and present-day Iraq, with its capital at Baghdad.

According to Islamic tradition, every adult who can afford it and is physically able to make it is supposed to make a pilgrimage — called the Hajj — to the holiest Islamic city, Mecca, at least once. During the Abbasid period, Diriyah was an important stop on the pilgrimage route between Basra, a port city in southern Iraq near the Arabian Gulf, and Mecca on the west coast of Saudi Arabia.

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NASA's Moon Base Could Be Ready In 2032

NASA has unveiled a major update on its long-term plan to build a permanent human settlement on the Moon, following the successful Artemis II mission last month. The agency said the future lunar base could eventually stretch across hundreds of square miles near the Moon’s south pole.

NASA officials described the project as a critical step toward sustained lunar exploration and future missions to Mars. The agency also confirmed new partnerships with private companies, including Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin, as it prepares for a planned crewed Moon landing in 2027.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said engineers are now entering a phase focused on understanding how humans and machines can survive on the Moon for extended periods.

"The grand return" to lunar exploration is getting closer, Isaacman said during a briefing in Washington. He added that NASA will continue "figuring out what works and what doesn’t" in one of the harshest environments humans have ever attempted to inhabit.

Isaacman said the Moon presents severe environmental challenges for astronauts and equipment. Surface temperatures can climb above 480 degrees Fahrenheit in sunlight and fall below minus 328 degrees Fahrenheit in darkness.

He also highlighted permanently shadowed craters near the lunar south pole, which scientists believe contain valuable resources and ancient material untouched by sunlight for billions of years.

"There is no atmosphere to moderate these extremes," Isaacman said. He also pointed to radiation exposure, solar particle events, and meteorite impacts as major risks for future lunar crews.

NASA officials believe those conditions make the Moon an ideal testing ground for deep-space operations before missions to Mars begin later in the decade.

NASA also announced a major procurement agreement involving Blue Origin, which will provide lunar-terrain vehicle delivery landers for the Moon Base program.

Officials described the deal as the first procurement award tied directly to the lunar base effort. Carlos Garcia-Galan, program executive for the Moon Base initiative, said NASA has already started the project’s first development phase.

Garcia-Galan said the lunar settlement could eventually cover "hundreds of square miles," giving it a footprint comparable to a large city. The base will sit farther south than any Apollo astronaut ever traveled.

NASA expects astronauts to live and work there for extended periods while conducting scientific research and preparing technologies for future Mars missions. The agency has previously estimated the broader lunar base effort could cost around US$ 20 billion.

The first mission connected to the project, Moonbase 1, will use Blue Origin’s Mark I Endurance lander. NASA currently targets a fall 2026 launch for the mission.

The spacecraft will carry multiple payloads to the Shackleton Connecting Ridge area near the lunar south pole. It will also transport two NASA science payloads and test technologies designed to reduce risks for future human landings.

"Every mission supporting the lunar base helps us learn and de-risk crewed missions," Isaacman said. He added that Blue Origin’s involvement makes the mission especially important for the Artemis campaign.

Moonbase 2 will use Astrobotic’s Griffin lander and deliver more than 1100 pounds of cargo to the lunar surface. The mission will transport Astrolab’s FLIP rover and support research into autonomous systems, logistics, and astronaut mobility.

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The Blue Micromoon Is Expected To Appear This Weekend

A blue micromoon will make a rare appearance this weekend, offering skywatchers a sight they won't have a chance to witness again until the very end of 2028.

The blue micromoon is a blue moon that's the most distant and smallest-looking full moon of the year.

In the Northern Hemisphere, people will see the upcoming spectacle occur alongside Antares, a bright star that will appear in the constellation Scorpius. The scene could be especially thrilling south of the equator and across the Pacific, as the moon will appear to cross in front of Antares and obscure it, astronomers said.

Occurring once every two or three years, a blue moon is how scientists refer to the second full moon of a single month. This month, the first full moon happened on 1 May. The last blue moon emerged in 2023, and the next one won't arrive until 31 December 2028, according to EarthSky.

Despite the name, this blue moon won't appear turquoise, sapphire or any other shade. The term simply refers to the uncommon occurrence of two full moons in one month.

Since the moon's orbit isn't a perfect circle, the upcoming full moon will be farther from Earth than usual at a distance of 252,360 miles, making it seem a bit smaller and dimmer. It's the opposite of a supermoon when a full moon comes closer to us than normal. The most recent supermoon, by comparison, was just 225,130 miles away.

Those who want to see the blue micromoon will have to intentionally go looking for it. The Virtual Telescope Project's Gianluca Masi told the Associated Press that the micromoon will appear 6 percent smaller and 10 percent dimmer, roughly, than an average full moon. Because of that, the differences "are subtle enough to likely go unnoticed by most observers."

The Virtual Telescope Project said it will stream live images of the blue micromoon, captured by its robotic telescopes.

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