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4w ago

Astronomers Report First Direct Radio Detection From an Exoplanet

A team interprets recurring, highly circularly polarized radio bursts as auroral electron-cyclotron maser emission that yields a direct magnetic-field estimate pending peer review.

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South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope array allowed the team to distinguish short, repeated bursts from the planet’s location.
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Overview

  • The research team posted a preprint on Saturday, September 26, 2026, reporting rapid, recurring and highly circularly polarized radio bursts plus persistent emission between 0.85 and 3.5 GHz.
  • Using the MeerKAT array in South Africa and background quasars to fix positions, the authors say they localized the signal to the gas giant Beta Pictoris b rather than its much brighter host star.
  • The team interprets the signal as auroral electron-cyclotron maser emission and uses the radio frequencies to infer a very strong planetary magnetic field reported in media summaries at about 1,250 gauss.
  • The claim would be the first direct measurement of an exoplanetary magnetic field and could open a radio-based method to study planetary dynamos and atmosphere protection from stellar wind.
  • The result remains preliminary because it is posted as an arXiv preprint and needs peer review plus independent follow-up observations, including searches for rotation-modulated pulsations and replication by other telescopes.