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Radio waves from a gas giant planet outside the solar system were detected for the first time, testifying to the presence of a protective magnetic field in this celestial body, reports AFP, cited by BTA.
The signal was tracked using the European LOFAR radio interferometer, which scans the sky in the low radio frequency range. The complex includes 50,000 antennas distributed throughout Europe.
The radio frequency emission comes from a known source: the Tau Butis system, located 50 thousand light years from Earth and defined as the closest “suburb” of the solar system.
It is made up of a double star and a nearby gas giant exoplanet. This is a “hot Jupiter” called Tau Butis-b.
The radio emission captured by LOFAR from this object gives clear indications of the presence of a magnetic field, said Philip Zarqa of the Paris Observatory, one of the lead authors of the study. These waves are very difficult to detect because the planet’s magnetic fields are weak and the radiation source is very distant.
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