An international team of scientists has claimed to have collected the first radio signal from a planet beyond our solar system. As per the scientists, the signal has been collected from an exoplanet system about 51 light-years away.
Key Facts
- The team of scientists uncovered emission bursts from the Tau Bootes star-system hosting a so-called hot Jupiter using a radio telescope in the Netherlands, Low Frequency Array (LOFAR). It is a gaseous giant planet very close to its own sun.
- The team was led by researchers from Cornell University in the US.
- The team also observed other potential radio-emission candidates from exoplanets in the constellation Cancer and Upsilon Andromedae systems.
- However, in the published study, only the Tau Bootes exoplanet system exhibited a significant radio signature.
- The study was published in the science journal-Astronomy & Astrophysics.
- This detection of the radio signal has opened a new window on exoplanets and provides a way to examine the alien world.
Exoplanet
An exoplanet is defined as a planet outside our Solar System. The possibility of an exoplanet was first pointed out in the year 1917 and the first confirmation of an exoplanet was made in the year 1992. As per December 2020, there are a total of 4,379 confirmed exoplanets.
Low Frequency Array (LOFAR)
It is a large radio telescope network of Netherlands which was built from the year 2006-2012. It is operated by Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy’s (ASTRON) radio observatory. It consists of a large array of antennas.
