Hot Jupiter Radio

Timothy Birdnow

Astronomers have detected radio waves from a nearby planet.

According to Fox News:

"We present one of the first hints of detecting an exoplanet in the radio realm," the study's lead author, Cornell University researcher Jake Turner, said in a statement. "The signal is from the Tau Boötes system, which contains a binary star and an exoplanet. We make the case for an emission by the planet itself. From the strength and polarization of the radio signal and the planet’s magnetic field, it is compatible with theoretical predictions."

The Tau Boötes system is approximately 51 light-years from Earth.A light-year, which measures distance in space, is approximately 6 trillion miles.

The researchers made their discovery thanks to the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), a radio telescope in the Netherlands.

After observing the radio emissions from Jupiter and looking at more than 100 hours worth of radio observations that were scaled to mimic the gas giant, they discovered the so-called "hot Jupiter" signature, albeit a weak one, in this star system.

"We learned from our own Jupiter what this kind of detection looks like. We went searching for it and we found it," Turner added.

In addition to the possible radio emission that originated in the constellation Boötes, they may have also found other radio emissions, including in the constellation Cancer and Upsilon Andromedae systems.

A "hot Jupiter" is a Jupiter sized planet (or bigger) in a very close orbit around a star. From what we've learned about solar systems most stars have hot Jupiters rather than gas giants in the outer system as is the case in our solar system.

A hot Jupiter has profound implications for the development of a solar system and subsequently for the possibility of life.

At any rate, the discovery of radio waves from such a planetary body is quite fascinating and suggests perhaps a new approach to finding gas giant bodies around other stars.

A hot Jupiter would suck up much of the planetary mass inside the inner system, thus making the formation of a world like the Earth less likely. Also, a strong magnetic field would tend to make a star flare.

At any rate, this is a wonderful discovery.

Hat tip: Jeff Howe.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 09:36 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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