Scientists discover the first planets outside the Milky Way – and there may be trillions
A cluster of planets in a galaxy 3.8 billion light years away have been found with a novel technique that reaches far beyond the gaze of any telescope
The truth is out there. And past that is a cluster of planets 3.8 billion light-years away, a recent discovery that if confirmed could extend the boundary of what we know about the universe.
Using data from a Nasa X-ray laboratory in space, Xinyu Dai, an astrophysicist and professor at the University of Oklahoma, detected, for the first time ever, a population of planets beyond the Milky Way galaxy. The mass of the planets range in size from Earth’s moon to the massive Jupiter, our solar system’s biggest planet.
There are few methods to determine the existence of distant planets. They are so far away that no telescope can observe them, Dai said. So Dai and his postdoctoral researcher Eduardo Guerras relied on a scientific principle to make the discovery: Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.
Einstein’s theory suggests light bends when tugged by the force of gravity. In this case, the light is coming from a quasar – the nucleus of a galaxy with a swirling black hole – which emits powerful radiation in the distance.
We are able to study them, unveil their presence and even have an idea of their masses. This is very cool science
Between that quasar and the space-based laboratory is the galaxy of newly discovered planets. The gravitational force of the galaxy bends the light heading toward the Milky Way, illuminating the galaxy in an effect called microlensing. In that way, the galaxy acts as a magnifying glass of sorts, bringing a previously unseen celestial body into X-ray view.
The technique was first used to first identify planets outside of our Solar System but inside the galaxy, known as exoplanets.