Scientists find first possible radio signal from a planet beyond our solar system

Scientists find first possible radio signal from a planet beyond our solar system

Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III – Sci & tech

In news 

• 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.

Key takeaways 

• 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.
• Tau Bootes is an F-type main-sequence star approximately 51 light-years away in the constellation of Bootes. 
• It is a binary star system, with the secondary star being a red dwarf.
• If confirmed through follow-up observations, 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.