MeerKAT observations traced circularly polarized radio waves to Beta Pictoris b itself, marking the first reported radio detection from an exoplanet rather than its host star.
Those signals likely come from auroras—charged particles spiraling through the planet’s magnetic field—which let researchers infer a field stronger than 1,000 gauss.
Beta Pictoris b, a gas giant about 10 times Jupiter’s mass and 63 light-years away, is massive enough that such an intense field is not unexpected and resembles auroral behavior seen on brown dwarfs.
The case is still awaiting peer review, and astronomers say a stronger confirmation would be radio pulses repeating with the planet’s roughly 8-hour rotation.
Could a magnetic field thousands of times stronger than Earth's be the ultimate key to finding habitable alien worlds?
What secrets do the colossal, invisible auroras of a gas giant 63 light-years away reveal about our universe?
Beta Pictoris b’s Powerful Magnetic Field Unveiled by Direct Radio Burst Detection
Overview
In a historic breakthrough, astronomers directly detected recurring radio bursts from the exoplanet Beta Pictoris b using the MeerKAT radio telescope. By mapping these signals with distant quasars as reference points, they confirmed the bursts came from the planet, not its star. The radio waves are caused by a natural auroral process—Electron Cyclotron Maser Instability—powered by Beta Pictoris b’s rapid 8–9 hour rotation. This allowed scientists to measure the planet’s magnetic field strength for the first time, revealing it to be thousands of times stronger than Earth’s. These findings open new possibilities for studying planetary magnetic fields and their role in protecting atmospheres.