The previous article has been updated.
The researchers discovered emission bursts from the Tau Bootes star-system, which hosts a massive giant planet very near to its own sun, using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), a radio telescope in the Netherlands.
The team, lead by Cornell University academics, has discovered several potential exoplanetary radio-emission candidates in the Cancer and Upsilon Andromedae systems.
Stars and the Milky Way are seen on the Navajo Nation in Hidden Springs, Arizona (REUTERS)
The study, which was published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, discovered that only the Tau Bootes exoplanet system has a strong radio signature, a unique potential window on the planet’s magnetic field.
If confirmed through follow-up observations, the researchers said, this radio detection opens up a new window on exoplanets and provides a novel way to examine alien worlds that are tens of light-years away.
Scientists have collected the first possible radio signal from a planet beyond our solar system
Observing an exoplanet’s magnetic field helps astronomers decipher a planet’s interior and atmospheric properties, as well as the physics of star-planet interactions, said Turner.
Earth’s magnetic field protects it from solar wind dangers, keeping the planet habitable.
The team led by researchers from the Cornell University in the US also observed other potential exoplanetary radio-emission candidates in the constellation Cancer and Upsilon Andromedae systems( Image source: Cornell Chronicle)
Two years ago, Turner and his colleagues examined the radio emission signature of Jupiter and scaled those emissions to mimic the possible signatures from a distant Jupiter-like exoplanet.
Those results became the template for searching radio emission from exoplanets 40 to 100 light-years away.