Repeating Radio Signal Leads Astronomers to an Earth-size Exoplanet
fliptop writes:
Astronomers have detected a repeating radio signal from an exoplanet and the star that it orbits, both located 12 light-years away from Earth. The signal suggests that the Earth-size planet may have a magnetic field and perhaps even an atmosphere.
Scientists noticed strong radio waves coming from the star YZ Ceti and the rocky exoplanet that orbits it, called YZ Ceti b, during observations using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array of telescopes in New Mexico. The researchers believe the radio signal was created by interactions between the planet's magnetic field and the star.
[...] "We saw the initial burst and it looked beautiful," said lead study author Sebastian Pineda, a research astrophysicist at the University of Colorado Boulder, in a statement. "When we saw it again, it was very indicative that, OK, maybe we really have something here."
[...] YZ Ceti b only takes two Earth days to complete a single orbit around its star. Meanwhile, the shortest orbit in our solar system is the planet Mercury, which takes 88 Earth days to complete a lap around the sun.
While YZ Ceti b whips around its star, plasma from the star collides with the planet's magnetic field, bounces off and interacts with the star's magnetic field. All of these energetic reactions create and release strong radio waves that can be detected on Earth.
Pineda, J.S., Villadsen, J. Coherent radio bursts from known M-dwarf planet-host YZ Ceti. Nat Astron (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-023-01914-0
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