The Planet Found Outside Milky Way, From Another Galaxy
Sunday, November 26, 2010 | Planet Found Outside Milky Way, planet from another galaxy

Astronomers are claiming that they have found the first planet from another galaxy. The planet, which is Jupiter-kind is, seems part of a solar system once belonging to a dwarf galaxy, they says.

This dwarf galaxy was devoured by our galaxy, the Milky Way, according to a team writing in the journal Science. The star, named HIP 13044, which is located 2000 light years away from the Earth, is at the end of its life.

That makes the newly found planet, which is about 20 percent larger than largest planet within the Solar System, Jupiter, the first found to have originated in another galaxy.

The researchers say this is very different kind discovery, in which the planet’s sun belongs to the ‘Helmi stream’ a group of stars which once belonged to a separate dwarf galaxy. This galaxy was devoured by the Milky Way somewhere between six and nine billion years ago.

Germany's Max Planck Institute for Astronomy’s Rainer Klement stated that this discovery is very exciting.

"For the first time, astronomers have detected a planetary system in a stellar stream of extragalactic origin. Due to great distances involved, there are no confirmed detections of planets in other galaxies. But this cosmic merger has brought an extragalactic planet within our reach."

Scientist used a telescope in Chile to discover the planet. Astronomers have up to now found 500 so-called ‘exoplanets’ using numerous astronomical techniques. All of those discovered so far though have been from our own galaxy, the Milky Way.

The new planet was found using the “radial velocity method” which involves identifying small vibrations in a star caused by a planet tugging on it. These vibrations were detected using a ground-based telescope located at the La Silla facility of the European Southern Observatory in Chile.

The “radial velocity method” was used to discover the new planet, which involves recognizing small vibrations in a star caused by a planet tugging on it. These vibrations were detected using a ground-based telescope located at the La Silla facility of the European Southern Observatory in Chile.



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