NETHERLANDS: A study conduct has indicated the presence of hidden planets through unexpected radio signals.
By using the world’s most powerful antenna, scientists have discovered the presence of hidden planets through blasting out stars radio waves. Situated in the Netherlands, The University of Queensland’s Dr. Benjamin Pope and his colleagues at Dutch national observatory ‘ASTRON’ have been searching for the other planets using world’s most powerful radio telescope Low Frequency Array (LOFAR).
However, on receiving some unexpected radio signals Dr Pope said, “We’ve discovered signals from 19 distant red dwarf stars, four of which are best explained by the existence of planets orbiting them”. He further added that, 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”.
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Moreover, Dr Pope considered this discovery as an important step for radio astronomy which could lead to possible existence of more planets in the galaxy. Earlier astronomers had limited access to detect only the nearest stars and everything else was considered to be black holes or interstellar gas in the radio sky. But now with the latest technology, they are now able to see plain old stars when they make their observations and they think that with that information they can search for any star present in the galaxy.
During the discovery made, the teams focus was only on red dwarf stars having intense magnetic activity and are much smaller than sun that drives stellar fares and radioactive emissions. But some old magnetically inactive stars also showed up challenging the conventional understanding of human mind regarding the planets presence.
Though, one of the author of the discovery said that his team is confident about these signals which are coming from the magnetic connection of the stars and unseen orbiting planets, similar to the interaction between Jupiter and its moon. He further asserted that our earth also has its aurorae known to be northern and southern lights which also emit powerful radio waves, which results from earth magnetic field with solar wind. Same is the case with Jupiter, they are much they’re much stronger as its volcanic moon.
The spectacle has attracted our attention from light-years away, scientists elaborate. The research team now wanted to confirm that if the discovery made is true or not. “We can’t be 100 percent sure that the four stars we think have planets are indeed planet hosts, but we can say that a planet-star interaction is the best explanation for what we’re seeing,” Dr. Pope said.
Earlier, the follow up observations have ruled out planets more massive than Earth and it cannot be possible that a smaller planet wouldn’t do this. Scientists further assured that with the Australia and South Africa’s Square Kilometer Array radio telescope which is finally under construction and completion in 2029, they predict, we will be able to see hundreds of relevant stars out to much greater distances.
