NASA says a group of scientists may have Find Signs of a new planet beyond the Milky Way. The potential discovery could be the first planet discovered in another galaxy.
A possible, unnamed planet roughly the size of Saturn has been spotted in the spiral galaxy Messier 51, or the Whirlpool Galaxy, about 28 million light-years from Earth, according to NASA.
The researchers made the discovery using a NASA telescope, called the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and using a new planet-hunting technology known as the X-ray transit method. It is difficult for astronomers to detect exoplanets, which NASA classifies as planets outside our solar system.
But using a new method, scientists can record the time an object moves above the star and blocks its X-rays. The duration and intensity of an object’s motion can tell researchers more about a planet’s potential size and orbit.
NASA/CXC/SAO/R. Distefano
Astronomical scientist published Their findings were published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.
“We’re trying to open up a new arena for discovering other worlds by searching for planet candidates at X-ray wavelengths, a strategy that makes it possible to detect them in other galaxies,” said Harvard astrophysicist Roseanne Di Stefano. Smithsonian Center, which led the research.
The discovery is exciting, but the researchers stress that more data is needed to confirm the planet’s existence, which could take decades. NASA says the planet’s potential orbital size is so large that it “won’t cross its binary pair again for 70 years.”
“Unfortunately, to confirm that we see a planet, we may have to wait decades to see another transit,” said study author Nia Imara and astrophysicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz. “Due to uncertainty about how long it will take to orbit, we won’t know exactly when to look.”
