News Astronomy

The first radiation belt outside the solar system has been spotted

Such belts can help reveal details about a cosmic body’s insides and environment

An illustration of a reddish planet with swirling patterns depicting its radiation field

A Jupiter-sized object outside the solar system has a radiation belt (illustrated) about 10 million times as bright as the ones around Jupiter.

Chuck Carter, Melodie Kao, Heising-Simons Foundation

By Lisa Grossman

For the first time, astronomers have spotted a band of radiation surrounding an object outside our solar system.

A belt of energetic electrons encircles a Jupiter-sized body about 18 light-years from Earth, astronomers report May 15 in Nature.