Mysterious white dwarf pulsar discovered

University of Warwick researchers identify a white dwarf pulsar - a star type which has eluded astronomers for half a century. Star lashes its neighbour with intense radiation beam every two minutes Research published in Nature Astronomy An exotic binary star system 380 light-years away has been identified as an elusive white dwarf pulsar - the first of its kind ever to be discovered in the universe - thanks to research by the University of Warwick. Professors Tom Marsh and Boris Gänsicke of the University of Warwick's Astrophysics Group, with Dr David Buckley from the South African Astronomical Observatory, have identified the star AR Scorpii (AR Sco) as the first white dwarf version of a pulsar - objects found in the 1960s and associated with very different objects called neutron stars. The white dwarf pulsar has eluded astronomers for over half a century. AR Sco contains a rapidly spinning, burnt-out stellar remnant called a white dwarf, which lashes its neighbour - a red dwarf - with powerful beams of electrical particles and radiation, causing the entire system to brighten and fade dramatically twice every two minutes. The latest research establishes that the lash of energy from AR Sco is a focused 'beam', emitting concentrated radiation in a single direction - much like a particle accelerator - something which is totally unique in the known universe. AR Sco lies in the constellation Scorpius, 380 light-years from Earth, a close neighbour in astronomical terms.