Four brand-new alien planets have potentially been discovered after scientists detected the shimmering radio flashes of auroras in those planets' atmospheres, a new study says.

But this pleasant light show is only a piece of the story; astronomers know that the cosmic clash of solar wind and magnetic fields also produces bright flashes of radio light that can be seen far across the galaxy.

To an alien observer hundreds of light-years away, the auroras of Earth may look like sudden, bright explosions of radio energy.

11 in the journal Nature Astronomy, scientists think they've discovered four brand-new planets within 160 light-years of Earth, by detecting the shimmering radio flashes of auroras in those planets' atmospheres.

If confirmed by future research, these four alien worlds will be the first planets detected through radio waves alone, the researchers said — potentially opening a new avenue for planetary detection in our galaxy.

These oddball stars appeared very old and magnetically inactive, yet they still shined with bright radio signals.

Using a mathematical model, the team concluded that the strange radio signals are most likely from a powerful aurora process occurring in the atmospheres of unseen, undiscovered planets orbiting the old stars.

With radio data alone, the researchers can't be sure that hidden planets are responsible for the strange signals around these old stars.

Further observations of the withered stars could reveal if the team's theory is correct — and whether bright blasts of radio energy can help lead astronomers to more alien worlds in the future.