A new study shows how scientists can observe radio waves to detect planets and probe the surrounding environments to determine habitability, though it will largely depend on planet-star vectors.
According to ScienceDaily, this new research was conducted by a team of scientists in the Netherlands, who used a Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio telescope to study emissions from aurorae, caused by the interaction between a planet and its star’s magnetic field, particularly for red dwarf stars.
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Red dwarfs are known to have strong magnetic fields that might heat up and erode the atmosphere of a habitable planet if they become exposed to this type of activity, even though the stars themselves are much smaller and cooler than the Sun. However, the radio emissions associated with this process allow scientists to probe the planet-star interaction.
“The motion of the planet through a red dwarf’s strong magnetic field acts like an electric engine much in the same way a bicycle dynamo works,” said Harish Vedantham, the lead author of the Nature Astronomy study. “This generates a huge current that powers aurorae and radio emission on the star.”
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As this is the first time that astronomers have been able to detect and decipher these signals, solar-system studies are expected to expand into new territories, as scientists may now be able to use these novel techniques to potentially discover exoplanets in habitable zones by finding similar emission from other stars.
“We now know that nearly every red dwarf hosts terrestrial planets, so there must be other stars showing similar emission,” said Joe Callingham, who was a co-author on the recent Nature Astronomy paper. “We want to know how this impacts our search for another Earth around another star.”
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This new research puts astronomers on an exciting path towards discovering even more about the galaxy far, far away.
As we all know, the Star Wars fictional universe has been steadily evolving for years. From the battle-strewn wastes of Jakku to the lush beaches of Scarif, the recent sequel trilogy and franchise spin-offs have introduced many new planets to the Star Wars solar system.
For more on these worlds, check out our rundown of every new planet Introduced in the Disney Star Wars movies or read about The Rise of Skywalker’s hidden planet Exegol and find out more about the classic Star Wars planet that appeared in Episode IX.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com Astronomers Discover New Way to Detect Potentially Habitable Planets