Astronomers pick up first-ever radio signal from an exoplanet -- but it's not aliens | CNN

Astronomers report the first direct detection of radio emission from an exoplanet: Beta Pictoris b, about 63 light-years from Earth. The finding—described in a new paper awaiting peer-reviewed publication—does not point to intelligent life. Instead, researchers say the signal matches auroral radio emission driven by an extremely strong magnetic field. The gas giant is roughly 12 times Jupiter’s mass and orbits a young star 1.75 times the Sun’s mass. Edo Berger of Harvard’s Center for Astrophysics & Harvard & Smithsonian said strong magnetism is needed to observe radio waves at the reported frequencies. The team posted the study on ArXiv Sept. 15.