Is M51-ULS-1b the First Planet Found Outside the Galaxy? - The Cosmic Companion 29 Oct. 2021
Could M51-ULS-1b be the first planet ever found in another galaxy? And what could this mean for the future of astronomy?
Could M51-ULS-1b be the first world found outside the Milky Way galaxy? We examine the evidence for what could be a historic discovery.
Scattered throughout our local neighborhood of the Milky Way Galaxy, more than 4,500 exoplanets orbit their stars, cataloged in the tomes of worlds known to the astronomers of Earth. Nearly all exoplanets known to science are found within 3,000 light years of our home world — a tiny fraction of the total size of our galaxy.
Now, astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics have reported a finding which might provide evidence for the first exoplanet ever found in another galaxy — an extroplanet. If this finding is confirmed (and that is a big if), the distance at which we can now find planets has become 10,000 times greater.
“We are trying to open up a whole new arena for finding other worlds by searching for planet candidates at X-ray wavelengths, a strategy that makes it possible to discover them in other galaxies,” explains Rosanne Di Stefano of the Center for Astrophysics (CfA).
Read more: https://bit.ly/M51-ULS-1b
We will talk with Rosanne Di Stefano about this discovery on Astronomy News with the Cosmic Companion 23 November - make sure to join us then!
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Coming Up on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion
Sneak preview: Tara Murphy of the University of Sydney explains the mystery of the strange radio bursts she helped discover near the center of the Milky Way. Video credit: The Cosmic Companion.
2 November (s5/e17): Professor Tara Murphy, University of Sydney, on the strange signals coming from near the center of our galaxy.
9 November (s5/e18): Asteroid Close-Up with NASA's Psyche Mission to the Asteroid Belt! Guest TBA
plus Esen Ercan Alp of Argonne National Laboratory - Studying samples from the asteroid Ryugu!
16 November: Vacation -No show
23 November (s5/e19): Shooting asteroids in space with NASA's DART mission! Guest TBA
plus Rosanne Di Stefano of the Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and the possible discovery of a planet in another galaxy!
30 November (s5/e20): Matthew Bothwell talks about his new book, The Invisible Universe. He'll tell us about the Universe we can't see with our eyes.
7 December (s5/e21): Dr. Sylvia Earle, one of the world’s top experts on ocean science and conservation, shares her inspiring wisdom in National Geographic Ocean: A Global Odyssey
14 December (s5/e22): Mark McCaughrean, Senior Advisor for Science & Exploration at the European Space Agency, talks about the BepiColumbo mission to Mercury.
21 December (s5/e23): Season Finale: James Webb Special with Stefanie Milam, Webb Telescope Deputy Project Scientist For Planetary Science
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