LONDON: IT IS being hailed as an “exciting” new discovery that will help to unlock more secrets of the universe.
Scientists have found a halo of bright wavy lights at the top and bottom poles of a small stellar object just outside our solar system in the constellation Lyra.
They believe the glowing waves are similar to the aurora borealis and australis, also known as the northern and southern lights.
Details of the discovery have been published in the scientific journal Nature.
The type of light is significant, according to Dr Marc Duldig from the University of Tasmania, as it will help unlock mysteries of the galaxy.
Dr Duldig says the light will act as a beacon for finding other planets.
“The fact that they found aurora emissions, emissions that are derived from electrons putting energy into the atmosphere which then emits energy in the form of light, like auroras do on earth is important,” he told news.com.au. “The interesting thing about this is that it is fact quite bright because the magnetic field is quite strong.
“From what they have seen this is a really good indicator to look for other brown dwarfs but also to look for large planets that have magnetic fields.
“That means there is another technique for looking for planets outside our solar system.
“That’s one of the things that makes this quite exciting. We can look for this transition between planets and stars.
“It’s a new tool for searching, another window. Every time there is another window into the universe we learn a whole lot of new stuff.”
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