Mysterious Radio Signals From Distant Stars Suggest The Presence of Hidden Planets - ScienceAlert

Within 160 light-years of the Solar System, four red dwarf stars that should be quiet in radio observations have been caught emitting radio signals.

It's not, to be clear, a technosignature hinting at an alien civilization; rather, it seems to be the result of an interaction between the exoplanet and the star's magnetic field, generating intensely strong auroras that can be detected using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) – a powerful radio telescope headquartered in the Netherlands.

"We've long known that the planets of our own Solar System emit powerful radio waves as their magnetic fields interact with the solar wind, but radio signals from planets outside our Solar System had yet to be picked up.

The Sun's magnetic field isn't strong enough, and the distances are too great, to produce a similar effect from its interaction with the planets in the Solar System, but red dwarfs are different.

The first red dwarf radio emission consistent with this type of interaction was found in a red dwarf star last year.

"Our model for this radio emission from our stars is a scaled-up version of Jupiter and Io, with a planet enveloped in the magnetic field of a star, feeding material into vast currents that similarly power bright [auroras]," said astronomer Joseph Callingham of the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), who led the research.