A strange signal, coming from far beyond our solar system, has been detected for the first time. A team of researchers from the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the University of Oregon managed to trace repeating radio emissions from Beta Pictoris b, a gas giant exoplanet that orbits an A-type star. It is located roughly 63 light-years away from Earth, El.kz cites NDTV.
The exoplanet was discovered in 2008, and NASA previously reported that the mass of Beta Pictoris b is 11.729 times that of Jupiter. It takes 23.6 years to complete one orbit of its star and is 10.018 AU from its star.
In the past, astronomers could pick up radio activity from this distant star system, but they were unable to pinpoint whether the noise came from the star or an orbiting planet.
To understand the exact source, researchers used South Africa's powerful MeerKAT radio telescope array to scan the Beta Pictoris system multiple times.
Because of the telescope's high precision, scientists could isolate short, repeating bursts of radio waves coming right from the planet's position, well clear of its parent star.
