Astronomers using South Africa’s MeerKAT telescope have traced radio bursts to the giant exoplanet β Pictoris b, about 64 light-years away, rather than to its star – a first. The strongly polarised bursts at up to 3.5 GHz are auroral emission, like Jupiter’s, and imply a magnetic field of at least about 1,250 gauss, thousands of times Earth’s. The result is a preprint (arXiv, September 2026) and not yet peer reviewed. Our take: not aliens, but something almost as exciting – we can now measure the magnetism of other worlds.
A radio signal from another planet – what was actually found?
For the first time, astronomers have traced radio waves to a planet outside the Solar System rather than to its star. The planet is β Pictoris b, a young giant about 12 times the mass of Jupiter, orbiting a 23-million-year-old star some 64 light-years away. A team led by Kevin Ortiz Ceballos and Edo Berger (Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) with Yvette Cendes (University of Oregon) observed it four times with South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope between February 2025 and May 2026.
They saw short, repeating bursts that are strongly circularly polarised (about 40–70%), plus a fainter steady glow, between 0.86 and 3.5 GHz. Careful alignment with the Gaia star catalogue puts the source on planet b: the host star is ruled out at 4.4σ and the second planet, c, at 4.8σ.
No, it is not aliens: it is an aurora
The bursts look exactly like the radio “song” of auroras. Charged particles spiral along the planet’s magnetic field towards its poles and beam out radio waves, a process called the electron cyclotron maser. Jupiter does the same, and so does Earth, on a much smaller scale. Nothing about the signal is artificial.
Because the highest frequency of this emission depends on the field strength, the 3.5 GHz bursts mean the planet’s magnetic field is at least about 1,250 gauss. That is thousands of times Earth’s field and roughly a hundred times Jupiter’s at its poles, and it is the first direct measurement of a magnetic field on any exoplanet.
Planetβ Pictoris b, ~12 Jupiter masses
Distance~64 light-years (19.6 pc)
TelescopeMeerKAT, South Africa
Frequencies0.86–3.5 GHz
Magnetic field≥ ~1,250 gauss
StatusPreprint, not yet peer reviewed
How a planet’s aurora sends radio waves to Earth
Original Astrometrik sketch, not to scale. Particles from the star and around the planet race along its magnetic field (teal) to the poles, where the aurora glows (green) and beams radio waves (pink). As the planet turns, the beam sweeps past us, so we catch bursts rather than a steady tone.
Does the signal repeat every 8 hours?
Not proven yet. The planet spins once in about 8 to 9 hours (JWST measured 9.0 hours), and two bursts in one session were about 8 hours apart. The authors say this “may” be the rotation showing through, but with only two epochs bright enough to see bursts it is a hint, not a measured period.
How sure is it?
The paper is a preprint posted on arXiv in September 2026 and has not passed peer review. The position match is strong, and other explanations (the star’s wind, plasma emission, a moon like Io) are discussed and disfavoured, but the field strength is a lower limit and more observations are needed. Even so, it opens a new way to study the inside of distant worlds: magnetic fields hint at how a planet is built and whether it can hold on to an atmosphere.
Our own planet’s aurora
The same physics lights up Earth’s northern lights. Astrometrik’s space-weather page shows the Kp index and your chance of seeing an aurora tonight.
Did astronomers receive a radio signal from another planet?
Yes, according to a September 2026 preprint: MeerKAT detected radio bursts whose position matches the giant exoplanet β Pictoris b, not its star. It is the first radio emission traced directly to an exoplanet.
Is the β Pictoris b signal from aliens?
No. The bursts are natural auroral radio emission, made when charged particles spiral along the planet’s magnetic field, just as on Jupiter.
How strong is β Pictoris b’s magnetic field?
At least about 1,250 gauss, inferred from the highest burst frequency (3.5 GHz). That is thousands of times Earth’s field and the first direct field measurement for an exoplanet.
Has the discovery been peer reviewed?
Not yet. It was posted on arXiv (2609.16720) in September 2026 as a preprint.
Sources and calculation
Source: K. N. Ortiz Ceballos, E. Berger, Y. Cendes, “Discovery of radio emission from the exoplanet β Pictoris b”, arXiv:2609.16720 (preprint, September 2026). Earth and Jupiter field values are standard textbook figures. Text and figure are Astrometrik’s own.
Positions and times were recalculated with Astronomy Engine, the sky-calculation library Astrometrik uses; times for Vienna and Istanbul are local time. The artwork on this page was drawn by Astrometrik.