New planet with strong aurora discovered 20 light years from Earth

An unusual new planet has been discovered drifting alone through space, 20 light years away from Earth.

It’s not attached to any star and is 12 times the size of Jupiter, which has a radius of more than 69,000 kilometres.

The massive planet is the first object of its kind to be discovered using a radio telescope.

A new planet with a large aurora has been discovered drifting alone through space. Picture: Supplied

The discovery is challenging what scientists know about the variety of astronomical objects found in the depths of space.

“This object is right at the boundary between a planet and a brown dwarf, or ‘failed star’, and is giving us some surprises,” Dr Melodie Kao and astronomer at Arizona State University told The Independent.

“They [the surprises] can potentially help us understand magnetic processes on both stars and planets.”

The newly identified planet was originally detected in 2016 in New Mexico, but was considered at that time to be a brown dwarf.

Brown dwarfs are too big to be considered planets, but aren’t yet big enough to be considered stars, putting them right in the middle.

The massive planet is 20 light years away from Earth. Picture: Nasa

Inspecting the mass again, researchers realised it was, in fact, a planet.

The research team have discovered that the planet’s magnetic field is incredibly strong - around 200 times stronger than Jupiter’s - giving it a strong aurora.

The new planet is 12 times the size of Jupiter which has a radius of more than 69,000 kilometres. Picture: AAP

It’s believed that the magnetic dynamo mechanisms of this particular space object will help scientists discover more planets beyond our solar system using auroral radio emissions.

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