Astronomers Pick Up the First Radio Signal Traced Directly to a Planet Outside Our Solar System
Astronomers have confirmed the first Beta Pictoris b radio detection ever traced directly to a planet outside our solar system, not a signal from anyone, but the fingerprint of an aurora and a magnetic field far stronger than our own. The planet is Beta Pictoris b, a young gas giant roughly 63 light-years from Earth, orbiting a star hotter and more massive than the sun. Researchers from the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard and Smithsonian and the University of Oregon observed the system four separate times across 2025 and 2026 using South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope array, catching short radio bursts that flared and faded within minutes, layered over a steadier background hum.
How the Beta Pictoris b Radio Detection Was Confirmed
Radio emission from planet-hosting star systems...