from the planets-from-long-ago-in-a-galaxy-far-far-away? dept.
Astronomers have detected exoplanets in a galaxy 3.8 billion light years away using gravitational microlensing:
In an incredible world first, astrophysicists have detected multiple planets in another galaxy, ranging from masses as small as the Moon to ones as great as Jupiter. Given how difficult it is to find exoplanets even within our Milky Way galaxy, this is no mean feat. Researchers at the University of Oklahoma achieved this thanks to clever use of gravitational microlensing.
[...] Oklahoma University astronomers Xinyu Dai and Eduardo Guerras studied a quasar 6 billion light-years away called RX J1131-1231, one of the best gravitationally lensed quasars in the sky. The gravitational field of a galaxy 3.8 billion light-years away between us and the quasar bends light in such a way that it creates four images of the quasar, which is an active supermassive black hole that's extremely bright in X-ray, thanks to the intense heat of its accretion disc.
Using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory, the researchers found that there were peculiar line energy shifts in the quasar's light that could only be explained by planets in the galaxy lensing the quasar. It turned out to be around 2,000 unbound planets with masses ranging between the Moon and Jupiter, between the galaxy's stars. "We are very excited about this discovery. This is the first time anyone has discovered planets outside our galaxy," Dai said.
Separately, astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have detected dimethyl ether and methyl formate molecules in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a dwarf galaxy and satellite of the Milky Way just 160,000 light years away. These molecules had not been previously detected outside of the Milky Way galaxy. The study also found evidence of methanol, which had already been detected in the LMC.
Probing Planets in Extragalactic Galaxies Using Quasar Microlensing (DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aaa5fb) (DX)
The Detection of Hot Cores and Complex Organic Molecules in the Large Magellanic Cloud (DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aaa079) (DX)
Also at Universe Today, National Geographic, the University of Oklahoma, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
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Signs of first planet found outside our galaxy
Astronomers have found hints of what could be the first planet ever to be discovered outside our galaxy. Nearly 5,000 "exoplanets" - worlds orbiting stars beyond our Sun - have been found so far, but all of these have been located within the Milky Way galaxy.
The possible planet signal discovered by Nasa's Chandra X-Ray Telescope is in the Messier 51 galaxy. This is located some 28 million light-years away from the Milky Way.
[...] Dr Rosanne Di Stefano and colleagues searched for dips in the brightness of X-rays received from a type of object known as an X-ray bright binary. These objects typically contain a neutron star or black hole pulling in gas from a closely orbiting companion star. The material near the neutron star or black hole becomes superheated and glows at X-ray wavelengths. Because the region producing bright X-rays is small, a planet passing in front of it could block most or all of the X-rays, making the transit easier to spot.
The team members used this technique to detect the exoplanet candidate in a binary system called M51-ULS-1.
[...] The transit lasted about three hours, during which the X-ray emission decreased to zero. Based on this and other information, the astronomers estimate that the candidate planet would be around the size of Saturn, and orbit the neutron star or black hole at about twice the distance Saturn lies from the Sun.
Also at NASA.
A possible planet candidate in an external galaxy detected through X-ray transit
Previously: Detection of Extragalactic Exoplanets and Large Organic Molecules
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Tuesday February 06 2018, @11:36PM (2 children)
Well of course there would be, no? We assume a certain homogeneity to the universe, and not without reason. So what about the SMC?
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday February 06 2018, @11:42PM (1 child)
Detection of interstellar C2 and C3 in the Small Magellanic Cloud [silverchair.com]
Characterizing the Low-Mass Molecular Component in the Northern Small Magellanic Cloud [arxiv.org]
Molecular abundances in the Magellanic Clouds III. LIRS 36, a star-forming region in the SMC [arxiv.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday February 07 2018, @12:17AM
Why, thank you, takyon!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 06 2018, @11:59PM (2 children)
There's only one planet with intelligent life in each galaxy. Quick somebody invent a Bergenholm inertialess drive so we can have an intergalactic war.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Wednesday February 07 2018, @12:07AM (1 child)
Are those the programmed starting conditions for the RTS?
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 07 2018, @12:34AM
Considering the Lensman series was about a multi-million-year proxy war between two galactic superpowers with the entire populations of two galaxies as cannon fodder, yes.