<p>An international team of scientists has collected the first possible radio signal from a planet beyond our solar system, emanating from an exoplanet system about 51 light-years away.</p>.<p>Using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), a radio telescope in the Netherlands, the researchers uncovered emission bursts from the Tau Bootes star-system hosting a so-called hot Jupiter, a gaseous giant planet that is very close to its own sun.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>However, the study published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics found that only the Tau Bootes exoplanet system exhibited a significant radio signature, a unique potential window on the planet's magnetic field.</p>.<p>"We present one of the first hints of detecting an exoplanet in the radio realm," said Cornell postdoctoral researcher Jake D. Turner.</p>.<p>"The signal is from the Tau Bootes system, which contains a binary star system and an exoplanet. We make the case for emission by the planet itself,” he said.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>Earth's magnetic field protects it from solar wind dangers, keeping the planet habitable.</p>.<p>"The magnetic field of Earth-like exoplanets may contribute to their possible habitability by shielding their own atmospheres from solar wind and cosmic rays, and protecting the planet from atmospheric loss,” Turner said.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>Those results became the template for searching radio emission from exoplanets 40 to 100 light-years away.</p>
<p>An international team of scientists has collected the first possible radio signal from a planet beyond our solar system, emanating from an exoplanet system about 51 light-years away.</p>.<p>Using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), a radio telescope in the Netherlands, the researchers uncovered emission bursts from the Tau Bootes star-system hosting a so-called hot Jupiter, a gaseous giant planet that is very close to its own sun.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>However, the study published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics found that only the Tau Bootes exoplanet system exhibited a significant radio signature, a unique potential window on the planet's magnetic field.</p>.<p>"We present one of the first hints of detecting an exoplanet in the radio realm," said Cornell postdoctoral researcher Jake D. Turner.</p>.<p>"The signal is from the Tau Bootes system, which contains a binary star system and an exoplanet. We make the case for emission by the planet itself,” he said.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>Earth's magnetic field protects it from solar wind dangers, keeping the planet habitable.</p>.<p>"The magnetic field of Earth-like exoplanets may contribute to their possible habitability by shielding their own atmospheres from solar wind and cosmic rays, and protecting the planet from atmospheric loss,” Turner said.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>Those results became the template for searching radio emission from exoplanets 40 to 100 light-years away.</p>