Radio signals detected coming directly from exoplanet for first time

First discovered in the 1990s, exoplanets, or worlds orbiting stars outside of our solar system, have long proven difficult to discern as to the origin of radio signals, or if the signals originate from their associated stars.

However, a team of scientists led by Kevin Ortiz Ceballos at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, detected radio signals coming directly from auroras linked to the powerful magnetic field of a planet called β Pictoris b.

Although sadly not a sign of alien life, the radio waves are an exciting development in understanding the magnetic fields and theories about exoplanet interiors .