Extragalactic planet
An extragalactic planet[1] is a planet that is outside the Milky Way Galaxy. Other terms used to describe these are extragalactic extrasolar planet and extragalactic exoplanet.
A microlensing event in the Twin Quasar gravitational lensing system was observed in 1996, by R. E. Schild, in the "A" lobe of the lensed quasar. It is predicted that a 3-Earth mass planet in the lensing galaxy, YGKOW G1, caused the event. This was the first extragalactic planet announced. This however is not a repeatable observation, as it is a one time chance alignment. This predicted planet lies 4 billion light years away. [2][3]
Andromeda Galaxy planets
A team of scientists has used gravitational microlensing to come up with a tentative detection of an extragalactic exoplanet in Andromeda, our nearest large galactic neighbour. The lensing pattern fits a star with a smaller companion weighing just 6 or 7 times the mass of Jupiter. This suspected planet is the first announced in the Andromeda Galaxy. [4][5]
References
- ^ Extrasolar Visions, "Extragalactic Worlds" (accessed 1 September 2009)
- ^ New Scientist (issue 2037), Do alien worlds throng faraway galaxy? Govert Schilling 06 July 1996
- ^ Extrasolar Visions, "The Q0957+561 Planet" (accessed 1 September 2009)
- ^ Thaindian News, First extragalactic exoplanet may have been found by gravitational microlensing, 11 June 2009
- ^ New Scientist, First extragalactic exoplanet may have been found, 10 June 2009
See also
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