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Radio waves detected on faraway planet — from aliens?
NewsNation • • science
Key Points:
- Astronomers have detected radio waves from Beta Pictoris b, a gas giant exoplanet 63 light-years away, marking the first time such signals have been pinpointed from another planetary system.
- Harvard physicist Avi Loeb argues these radio waves are likely a natural phenomenon, similar to Earth's northern lights, caused by energized particles colliding with the planet's atmosphere.
- Beta Pictoris b possesses an exceptionally strong magnetic field, over 1,200 gauss, vastly exceeding Earth's magnetic field strength of about 0.5 gauss.
- Loeb cautions against assuming extraterrestrial civilizations would use radio waves for communication, especially if they are AI-driven, suggesting alternative methods like self-replicating probes might be employed instead.
- Despite decades of searching, no confirmed radio signals indicating alien civilizations have been detected, and this discovery does not change that status.
