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Astronomers report first radio signals traced to an exoplanet

Astronomers report that they have traced radio signals directly to Beta Pictoris b, a giant planet about 63 light-years away, rather than to its star. They describe it as a first for a planet outside our Solar System, although the study, posted on arXiv, still awaits peer review.

The team used South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope to observe the system during four sessions in 2025 and 2026. It detected brief bursts alongside more persistent emissions. To locate their source, the researchers used the bright cores of distant galaxies as reference points, separating the planet’s position from that of its star.

The waves’ properties point to natural processes associated with auroras, like those on Earth and Jupiter. Their frequencies also allowed the team to estimate the planet’s magnetic field. In the region producing one burst, it appears thousands of times stronger than Earth’s surface field.

Beta Pictoris b has roughly ten times Jupiter’s mass and spins once every eight or nine hours. Radio observations offer a way to investigate such distant worlds beyond what visible or infrared light can reveal.

The researchers have identified seven other giant planets as possible targets, though detecting similar signals would require instruments five to seven times more sensitive.

Sources

  1. infobaeDetectaron por primera vez señales de radio atribuidas a un exoplaneta: qué revelan sobre sus auroras y su campo magnético
  2. El ConfidencialAstrónomos reciben por primera vez señales de radio procedentes de un exoplaneta situado a 63,4 años luz de la Tierra
  3. IndexHRS planeta udaljenog 63 svjetlosne godine stigao radio signal. Nisu izvanzemaljci

Reporting notes

Where this came from

Harvard & Smithsonian–University of Oregon team's arXiv preprint

infobae and El Confidencial explicitly identify the arXiv study and quote its authors. Their disclosed foundational evidence is the same research; neither article names an intermediary publisher.

Harvard & Smithsonian–University of Oregon team's arXiv preprint → ScienceAlert

IndexHR states that it is reporting ScienceAlert's account and identifies the underlying study as an unreviewed arXiv preprint. This is downstream coverage of the same research, not an independent detection.