Exoplanets

All of the planets in our solar system orbit around the Sun. Planets that orbit around other stars are called exoplanets. Exoplanets are very hard to see directly with telescopes.
The first exoplanet was discovered in 1992, orbiting a pulsar (a neutron star that emits electromagnetic radiation).
More than 4,000 have been detected to date using several techniques.

- An international team of scientists has collected the first possible radio signal from a planet beyond our solar system, emanating from an exoplanet system about 51 light-years away.

Using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), a radio telescope in the Netherlands, the researchers uncovered emission bursts from the Tau Bootes star-system hosting a so-called hot Jupiter, a gaseous giant planet that is very close to its own sun.
The signal is from the Tau Bootes system, which contains a binary star system and an exoplanet.
Only the Tau Bootes exoplanet system exhibited a significant radio signature.
This radio detection opens up a new window on exoplanets and provides a novel way to examine alien worlds that are tens of light-years away.

Low Frequency Array is currently the largest radio telescope operating at the lowest frequencies that can be observed from Earth.
Unlike single-dish telescopes, LOFAR is a multipurpose sensor network, with an innovative computer and network infrastructure that can handle extremely large data volumes.

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