A rare star that pulses like a cosmic heart is orbiting a dead, ultra-dense neutron star in our galactic thick disk.

RR Lyrae stars are famous standard candles used by astronomers to measure distances across the galaxy. This specific star, IY Lyr, is part of an incredibly rare binary system where its partner is a neutron star with 1.37 times the mass of the Sun. This pairing is like a living clock orbiting a massive, invisible anchor. Studying how these two interact helps explain the violent history of binary star systems in the older parts of our galaxy. It provides a unique laboratory to test how pulsars and variable stars influence each other's evolution over billions of years. This discovery helps us map the deep history of our galaxy with unprecedented precision.