For the first time in history, astronomers believe they have found signs of a planet outside our galaxy. About 28 million light years away, there may be a Saturn-sized planet in the spiral galaxy Messier 51, according to a study published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
All exoplanets – a planet that orbits a star outside the solar system – so far discovered are less than 3,000 light-years away. A light year is the distance light travels in a year.
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Rosanne Di Stefano of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge and the study members used X-rays to see if a star’s light got brighter after a planet passed through it. Using this technique allows astronomers to detect exoplanets at greater distances than ever before.
In this case, X-ray emissions from a neutron star or black hole in the Whirlpool Galaxy dropped to zero for three hours, leading study members to believe the phenomenon was caused by an exoplanet.
Astronomers estimate that the exoplanet is approximately the size of Saturn and orbits the neutron star or black hole at about twice the distance of Saturn from the Sun. Neutron stars and black holes are super dense objects in space that can form when a star runs out of fuel and collapses.
Due to the exoplanet’s size and large orbit, it would not cross in front of the star or black hole for another 70 years, making it difficult for NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory observations to confirm.
“Unfortunately, to confirm that we are seeing a planet, we would probably have to wait decades to see another transit,” co-author Nia Imara of the University of California Santa Cruz told NASA. “And because of the uncertainties about how long it takes to orbit, we wouldn’t know exactly when to look.”
If the exoplanet were really a planet, M51-ULS-1 would have survived a tumultuous past, including a supernova, or stellar explosion, and could face another in the future, according to the study.
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