It may not be what half of Americans were waiting for, but it remains … very cool.
Astronomers say they have directly detected the first-ever radio emission from a planet outside the solar system. The signal, however, is evidence of a colossal magnetic field — not intelligent life.
“I know radio signals are associated with searches for extraterrestrial intelligence,” said Edo Berger, a professor of astronomy at Harvard University. “But this is something very different.”
The discovery, described in a new paper awaiting publication in a peer-reviewed journal, traces repeating radio bursts that appear to come from the exoplanet Beta Pictoris b, located 63 light-years from Earth — a short distance, astronomically speaking. The gas giant, about 12 times the mass of Jupiter, is one of three planets orbiting a young star that is 1.75 times as massive as the sun. [KIMT3 News]
