Astronomers Detect Radio Waves from an Exoplanet for the First Time
The signal shows auroral radio bursts and suggests a magnetic field more than 1,000 gauss, researchers said.
- Astronomers detected radio emission directly traced to exoplanet Beta Pictoris b using the MeerKAT radio telescope array in South Africa, marking the first time such emissions have been unambiguously localized to a planet rather than its host star.
- During four sessions in 2025 and 2026, researchers observed the gas giant located about 64 light-years away and identified recurring, highly polarized radio bursts characteristic of auroras on planets.
- Electron cyclotron maser instability likely produces the emissions, mirroring auroral activity on Earth and Jupiter. The researchers stated, "No physical mechanism known to cause radio emission in early-type stars can explain the observed emission."
- The observations reveal Beta Pictoris b possesses a magnetic field of more than 1,000 gauss, providing the first direct measurement of magnetic strength for an exoplanet and aligning with dynamo-scaling predictions.
- This methodology could soon allow researchers to analyze seven other giant exoplanets across five nearby star systems. While the study awaits peer review, it establishes a new technique for probing exoplanet magnetic environments.
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For the first time, a radio signal has been unequivocally identified as coming directly from a planet beyond the Solar System.
Astronomers have detected radio signals directly emanating from a planet approximately 63 light-years from Earth. This first-of-its-kind observation could provide previously invaluable insights into planets outside our solar system.
A radio signal from a planet outside the solar system opens a new door to the search for distant worlds. Will it lead to secrets about life outside the Earth? In a move that has changed the way planets outside the solar system are studied, a team of astronomers announced the monitoring of radio emissions from the giant planet Beta Pictoris b, with researchers able to locate... this news has been posted via Cedar News News. For more breaking news…
Astronomers Detect the First Direct Radio Signal From an Exoplanet but Disappoint Alien Enthusiasts
Researchers using South Africa's MeerKAT array say they have directly traced auroral radio emissions to Beta Pictoris b, offering a preliminary measurement of the exoplanet's magnetic field.
Space Scientists Just Found The First Ever Direct Radio Signal From An Exoplanet
To get from Earth to Pluto in a car (if such a thing were possible), you’d need to drive for about 6,000 years at motorway speeds. This is just the distance between two planets in a single solar system. One light-year is about six trillion miles; the galaxy to which we belong, the Milky Way, is 100,000 light-years across. Experts think there could be one to two billion galaxies in the universe. So, perhaps it’s no wonder that scientists have lon…
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