Possible Extra-Galactic Planet Detected

Nancy Atkinson writes "Using a technique called pixel-lensing, a group of astronomers in Italy may have detected a planet orbiting another star. But this planet is unique among the 300-plus exoplanets discovered so far, as it and its parent star are in another galaxy. The Andromeda Galaxy, to be exact. Technically, the star in M31 was found to have a companion about 6 times the mass of Jupiter, so it could be either a brown dwarf or a planet. But either way, this is a remarkable feat, to find an object of that size in another galaxy."

Comments

I get it but...

[kenp2002]

I understand the value of searching for other planets but seriously in another galaxy? WTF? Does relavancy matter? Look for stuff in the Milky Way at least, we'll NEVER get there unless we figure out FTL and even finding intelligent life in another galaxy sending a message to another galaxy is so impractical that dozens of generations would pass before getting a response and then responding to that you'd pass a dozen more generations.

Our nearest star at least is what, 4 light years away? I mean, there is a neato factor to this but how much labor went into this rather then finding a solid gold meteor we could mine more 'immediate' research topics.

"One must master one-self before one can master others."

Lets get a good mastery of our own solar system before we go running off looking up Andromeda's skirt!