This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this folio. Terms of apply.

It stands to reason that if at that place are exoplanets orbiting stars in our own milky way, then there would also be exoplanets in other galaxies. However, other galaxies are too far away to detect exoplanets by any of the means we currently have. Now researchers from the University of Oklahoma claim to have spotted exoplanets in another milky way using a technique called gravitational microlensing. These planets seem to take rather odd behavior, though.

In our galaxy, we look for exoplanets by observing the stars they orbit. We tin can detect small-scale wobbles in the star as planets motion around them, but this only works for larger planets. The transit method monitors stars for small dips in luminance from planets passing in front of them. This can detect smaller planets, only non all solar systems are oriented in such a fashion that planets pass in front end of the star from our perspective. Gravitational microlensing is a completely different arroyo, predicted by general relativity. Just like a glass lens tin can magnify an object, the angle of infinite past gravity can amplify distant energy sources.

The lensing comes from an active milky way with a black pigsty (known as a quasar) about iii.viii billion light years abroad. The intense gravity from the quasar bends low-cal toward the Galaxy, bringing previously unseen objects into view. The team used the Chandra Ten-ray Observatory to browse the galaxy (called RXJ1131-1231, in the center of the above image), finding signals that could be planets.

Astrophysicist Xinyu Dai says the technique can observe objects as minor as Earth'southward moon or every bit large as Jupiter. Gravitational microlensing is the but technique known that has whatsoever hope of detecting planets at such a nifty distance, even in "scientific discipline fiction" scenarios, according to the researchers.

The data from the team's x-ray observations paints a picture of a galaxy very different ours. They estimate there are 2,000 planets for every star, and that many of the planets don't remain spring to individual stars. Instead, they migrate through space or hop from i star to another. Could in that location be trillions of "rogue" planets in this galaxy? That would be wild, to say the least.

The scientific customs is still skeptical of the interpretation of this data, but everyone agrees it's very interesting. Some alternative explanations of the data include clusters of brown dwarf stars or dust clouds. Other experts will exist pouring over the data in an attempt to either validate or refute these claims. Either way, in that location'due south clearly something to see in RXJ1131-1231.