Radio signal appears to come directly from exoplanet
A study that has not yet been peer-reviewed locates aurora-like radio emission at Beta Pictoris b.
Astronomers report the first direct detection of radio emission attributed to a planet outside our solar system. The study of gas giant Beta Pictoris b is still online as a preprint and must be independently assessed.
Researchers used South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope to measure recurring, strongly polarised radio signals. According to their analysis, the signals do not come from the star Beta Pictoris, but from the surrounding planet Beta Pictoris b.
The measured emission lies between 0.85 and 3.5 gigahertz. The researchers link the signal to the same mechanism that causes aurora-like radio emission from planets in our solar system: charged particles moving along magnetic field lines.
If the interpretation is correct, the measurement also provides a first direct estimate of an exoplanet’s magnetic field. The researchers arrive at at least around 1.25 kilogauss, an extremely strong value compared with Earth’s magnetic field.
A magnetic field can provide information about a planet’s atmosphere and its interaction with the stellar wind. Radio astronomy may therefore offer a new way to study the properties of distant planets without sending a space probe there.
The scientific status is important: the article was submitted as a preprint on 15 September and has not yet been peer-reviewed. An astronomer who was not involved in the research called the result promising in comments to Science News, but said the conclusion must first pass peer review.
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The observation and scientific status are accurately presented as a preprint finding. The possible significance for atmospheres and magnetic fields is described as an interpretation of the research.
- confirmed The researchers report radio emission from Beta Pictoris b. — This appears in the preprint’s summary and is discussed by Science News. source
- confirmed The emission was measured between 0.85 and 3.5 gigahertz. — Mentioned in the preprint. source
- confirmed The research has not yet been peer-reviewed. — arXiv lists the article as submitted; Science News stresses that peer review is still to come. source
Editor's note
This is a preprint, not a peer-reviewed or independently replicated result. The text therefore uses cautious wording and does not speak of extraterrestrial life.Sources
More on this in Dutch media
- De Telegraaf — „exoplaneten beta pictoris b”
- AD — „exoplaneten beta pictoris b”
- de Volkskrant — „exoplaneten beta pictoris b”