First radio emission detected from planet beyond our solar system

Astronomers say they have detected radio emissions directly from a planet outside our solar system for the first time, potentially revealing an enormous magnetic field around the distant world.

The repeating radio bursts appear to come from Beta Pictoris b, a gas giant about 63 light-years from Earth and roughly 12 times the mass of Jupiter, according to a new study posted to the preprint platform arXiv.

“I know radio signals are associated with searches for extraterrestrial intelligence. But this is something very different,” Harvard University astronomy professor Edo Berger said.

Researchers believe the radio waves are produced by auroras linked to the planet’s magnetic field, similar to processes behind Earth’s northern lights and auroras on Jupiter.

“The magnetic field on this planet is at least 200 times stronger than the magnetic field of Jupiter,” Berger said.

Scientists used South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope array to detect the emissions and said they were able to pinpoint Beta Pictoris b as the source rather than its host star.

“We recorded it multiple times, at multiple frequencies. It’s there every single time,” Berger said.

Previous studies have found possible radio emissions from exoplanets, but researchers have struggled to rule out their host stars as the source.