Maybe the universe is trying to send a message to Earth.
Astronomers may have received the first radio signals from a planet outside our solar system, The independentAndrew Griffen reported on Thursday.
The breakthrough could pave the way for an important new means of exploring and understanding distant planetary bodies, according to the scientists who found it.
This news is the latest in alien stories reported this year about UFOs and little green men. That it’s not this year’s more memorable stories shows just how bizarre the 2020 news cycle has been.
RELATED: UFO observations up 283% in NYC as of 2018
RELATED: WATCH: Pentagon posts footage of US Navy UFOs, confirms videos are “real.”
However, researchers indicate that more specifically the aforementioned radio signals come from an extrasolar planet, which is the first time humans have ever collected a radio broadcast from another planet outside our own neighborhood, the British publication reported. In particular, the radio bursts come from the constellation Boötes, which can be seen in the northern sky.
“We present one of the first hints for detecting an exoplanet in the radio world,” said Jake D. Turner, a Cornell University postdoctoral fellow who led the study, the findings of which are reported in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
“The signal is from the Tau Boötes system, which contains a binary star and an exoplanet,” Turner added. “We argue for an emission by the planet itself. Given the strength and polarization of the radio signal and the planet’s magnetic field, it is compatible with theoretical predictions. “
In addition, additional research must be performed to verify the origin of the bursts. However, if this is the case, it offers a whole new way to understand worlds many light years away, according to The independent.
The astronomers discovered the eruptions with the help of a radio telescope in the Netherlands. They have located signals coming from a galaxy that is host to a variety of planet known as a hot Jupiter, which is massive and gaseous like Earth’s neighbor, but much closer to the star of its own system, per The independent.
“If confirmed by follow-up observations,” explains Ray Jayawardhana, a Cornell professor and co-author of the new study, “this radio detection opens a new window on exoplanets, giving us a new way to explore alien worlds spanning decades of light years. deleted. “
If scientists can analyze radio signals from distant worlds, they could use them to understand their magnetic field, said The independent. That would thus help them discover the properties of the interior and the atmosphere, as well as the interactions between stars and planets – all of which can be used to understand how habitable it can be.
This latest study arose from work the team has done in the past to investigate and extrapolate our neighbor Jupiter to understand what it might look like when viewed up to 100 light years away. The independent reported. That gave them the pattern that could show if a similar planet was found elsewhere – which they now believe they have done.
However, it should be noted that the signal is still weak and unacknowledged, per The independent. Additional research using other radio telescopes should help provide more details and ultimately confirm whether the enigmatic eruptions really are from another planet outside our solar system.
You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.