First Extrasolar Radiation Belt Discovered by Astronomers.

Astronomers have discovered the first radiation belt outside of our solar system around a brown dwarf called LSR J1835+3259, which is about the same size as Jupiter but more dense. The radiation belt is almost 10 million times more intense than Jupiter’s and is made of particles traveling near the speed of light. The team used an observing technique to capture three high-resolution pictures of the radio-emitting electrons trapped in the brown dwarf’s magnetosphere over the course of a year. The discovery suggests that radiation belts might be more universal than initially thought, occurring not just on planets but also on brown dwarfs, low-mass stars, and possibly even very high-mass stars.