Astronomers discover first planet from another galaxy

[News_Editor]

Astronomers discover first planet from another galaxy

2010-11-19 07:05:09 GMT+7 (ICT)

HEIDELBERG, GERMANY (BNO NEWS) -- Astronomers with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) on Thursday announced the discovery of the first planet from another galaxy than the Milky Way.

The astronomers detected the exoplanet, which is similar to Jupiter, using the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. The planet was located orbiting a star that entered the Milky Way from another galaxy.

"This discovery is very exciting," says Rainer Klement of the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA), who selected the target stars for the study. "For the first time, astronomers have detected a planetary system in a stellar stream of extragalactic origin. Because of the 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."

The Jupiter-like planet is particularly unusual as it is orbiting a star near the end of its life-cycle and could be about to be engulfed by it, which will give astronomers a possible scenario for when the Milky Way’s Sun cycle ends.

"This discovery is part of a study where we are systematically searching for exoplanets that orbit stars nearing the end of their lives," says Johny Setiawan, from MPIA, who led the research. "This discovery is particularly intriguing when we consider the distant future of our own planetary system, as the Sun is also expected to become a red giant in about five billion years."

Over the last 15 years, astronomers have detected nearly 500 planets orbiting stars in Earth’s galaxy but until now, none outside the Milky Way was found. ESO astronomers located a planet with a minimum mass 1.25 times that of Jupiter.

The planet is orbiting a star which is part of the Helmi stream, a group of stars that originally belonged by a dwarf galaxy that was devoured by the Milky Way about six billion years ago. The star is located within the Milky Way but the planet is not.

The star is known as HIP 13044 and lies about 2,000 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Fornax. The planet was located by observing the tiny telltale wobbles of the star caused by the gravitational tug of an orbiting companion.

The planet was called HIP 13044b and is also one of the few exoplanets known to have survived the period when its host star expanded massively after exhausting the hydrogen fuel supply in its core - the red giant phase of stellar evolution.

The star has now contracted again and is burning helium in its core. These so-called horizontal branch stars have remained largely uncharted territory for astronomers. HIP 13044b is located near its host star. At the closest point of its orbit, the exoplanet is less than one stellar diameter from the surface of the star or about 0.055 times the Sun-Earth distance.

HIP 13044b completes an orbit in only 16.2 days. Astronomers believe that the planet’s orbit was much larger but it reduced during the star's red giant phase. Other planets may have not be so lucky as they might have been engulfed by the star and moved inwards the newly-discovered planet.

However, HIP 13044b appears to be doomed due to its proximity to its host star as it will expand again in the next stage of its evolution. This could also foretell the destiny of the solar system's outer planets, such as Jupiter, when the Sun approaches the end of its life.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2010-11-19

[elshaheen]

Time to grab my duffle bag and start go out, extend the thumb and start hitch kicking. Someone will come along, eventually. Maybe pick you up or keep on going.

[morphious]

[travelmann]

Just somewhere else we can <deleted> up Im sure Thailand can play its part there

[Birdman]

Astronomers discover first planet from another galaxy which is entirely like South Pattaya, Isaan and Finland....

Edited November 19, 2010 by Birdman

[bdenner]

I'm sure 92.51235342857625429563% of TV members don't give a stuff as they are OFF THE PLANET ANYWAY.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

So... we're short on Thailand related discussion I guess? First the Facebook @ Work story and now this? (It's good though, don't get me wrong; I hate it when discussion ends because someone somewhere thinks it's not Thailand related enough.)

[whybother]

Time to grab my duffle bag and start go out, extend the thumb and start hitch kicking. Someone will come along, eventually. Maybe pick you up or keep on going.

Forget your duffle bag. Just take your towel.

[sirineou]

Instead of spending all this money looking for Planets in other Galaxies, I think we should be spending it in this Planet.

We can start by Looking for intelligent life on Earth.