Scientists May Have Discovered the First Planets Outside the Milky Way (washingtonpost.com)

Using data from a NASA X-ray laboratory in space, Xinyu Dai, an astrophysicist and professor at the University of Oklahoma, detected a population of planets beyond the Milky Way galaxy (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source). The planets range in size from Earth's moon to the massive Jupiter. From the report: There are few methods to determine the existence of distant planets. They are so far away that no telescope can observe them, Dai told The Washington Post. So Dai and 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 -- that emits powerful radiation in the distance. 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. In a university news release, Guerras had a less formal way to describe the complicated process: "This is very cool science."

Comments

Like detecting a butterfly across the ocean

[Camembert]

Many of us are so jaded and cynical these days, yet no matter how you look at it, this is indeed very impressive. It is like standing at the coast in France and noticing a butterfly in New York. Very cool.

Re: Until we can actually go there...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Until we can go there" would be the same fallacy as saying electrons are not science until we can see them with our naked eye. Confidence in theories comes in a continuum, not some binary threshold. In this case, there is quite a history of microlensing studies, which did include hypotheses about what would be seen. The results are not as certain as the existence of the electron, but a lot more so than some math thrown together without new evidence.