A team led by researchers from the Cornell University has detected the first possible radio signal from a planet beyond our solar system.
- The signal was received from the tau Bootis star system.
- The signal was detected using the LOw Frequency Array (LOFAR), a large radio telescope network located mainly in the Netherlands.
- According to Ray Jayawardhana- the co-author of the study paper, this radio detection opens up a new window on exoplanets, giving us a novel way to examine alien worlds that are tens of light-years away.
- Tau Bootis is a binary stellar system approximately 51 light-years away in the constellation of Boötes. Binary stars are two stars orbiting a common center of mass.
- In 1996, a hot-Jupiter exoplanet was discovered orbiting the primary star tau Boötis A.
- A hot Jupiter is a gaseous giant planet that is very close to its own sun.
(Sources: SCI-News and Cornell Chronicle)
