这项发表于《Nature Astronomy》的研究首次同时探测到无线电与 X 射线爆发，并确认这些爆发会随着每一次轨道运行而重复出现。ASKAP J1745 特别重要，因为它是少数已经被弄清本质的长周期瞬变源之一，而在已知的 12 个中，仍有 10 个尚未被确认身份。
研究团队还利用多台观测不同波段光线的望远镜得到一致证据，使 ASKAP J1745 成为理解这类神秘天体的关键“罗塞塔石碑”。这些额外信息帮助天文学家把重复信号与双星系统联系起来，从而为解释更广泛的神秘射电爆发提供线索。
Astronomers have identified ASKAP J1745 as a new source of repeating radio bursts, and its origin is a pair of stars spiralling around each other. It belongs to the class of long-period transients, so named because their signals repeat very slowly, and only about a dozen such odd sources are known so far.
The study, published in Nature Astronomy, reports the first-ever detection of both radio and X-ray bursts that repeat with each orbit. ASKAP J1745 stands out because its nature has been explained, unlike 10 of the 12 known long-period transients, making it one of the few members of this rare class that astronomers can now understand.
Multiple telescopes observing different kinds of light confirmed the result, strengthening the link between the bursts and the binary system. Like the Rosetta Stone, this discovery provides a key reference that should help astronomers decipher the broader mystery of repeating radio signals from space. (Key numbers: 1745)