This article was published on November 18, 2010

Far, far away…astronomers spot first planet in another galaxy


Far, far away…astronomers spot first planet in another galaxy

Could it be Tatooine? Astronomers in Germany have spotted the first planet outside of the Milky Way orbiting a bloated red star in an unnamed galaxy.

The extragalactic explanet (try saying that five times fast) was spotted by scientists at Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy, and in not only enormous (at least 1.25 times the mass of Jupiter), but also was able to survive the expansion of what was probably at one time a sun-like star. The planet is also the first of its kind that has been detected that was seemingly formed without, “first building a massive core of rock and ice and then pulling on enough gas to form a true gas giant planet,” said a member of the study in the journal Science.

The star and planet are 8,000 light years away in the galaxy that orbits the Milky Way.

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No word yet from astronomers on whether they’ve detected the Death Star, however.

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