--- title: "Scientists Claim to Discover First Planet in Galaxy Beyond Milky Way" description: "Using data collected by NASA's Chandra X-Ray Telescope, scientists may have found evidence for the existence of an exoplanet 28 million light-years away." date: "2021-10-26" modified: "2021-10-26" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-planet-galaxy-beyond-milky-way" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "Chandra X-ray Observatory" - "exoplanet search" - "Exoplanets" - "NASA" - "the digest" --- # Scientists Claim to Discover First Planet in Galaxy Beyond Milky Way ![Using data collected by NASA's Chandra X-Ray Telescope, scientists may have found evidence for the existence of an exoplanet 28 million light-years away.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Extragalactic Astronomers may have spotted [thousands of exoplanets]() in different star systems, but they had yet to find evidence of exoplanets in other galaxies beyond our own Milky Way. Now, using data collected by NASA's Chandra X-Ray Telescope, an international team of scientists may have found evidence for the existence of a Saturn-sized planet in the Messier 51 galaxy, [the *BBC* reports](), some 28 million light-years away — an impressive achievement that underscores the mind-boggling vastness of the universe. ## X-Ray Dips To make the discovery, the team observed dips in a star's light usually caused by a planet passing between it and us, a technique called the transit method. The planet seems to be located in a binary star system called M51-ULS-1. The team noticed a dip in the X-rays emanating from the star system, which is in a region which generally produces fewer X-rays, making it a promising target for observation. "The method we developed and employed is the only presently implementable method to discover planetary systems in other galaxies," Rosanne Di Stefano, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and lead author of [a paper]() about the research published in the journal *Nature Astronomy*, told the *BBC*. "It is a unique method, uniquely well-suited to finding planets around X-ray binaries at any distance from which we can measure a light curve," she added. ## Bold Claim It's still too early to fully determine the existence of the elusive extragalactic planet. And the candidate planet's orbit is so large that it takes 70 years to orbit its star, meaning the next dip in X-rays is almost 70 years out and making the discovery near impossible to verify. The candidate also would have had to survive a supernova of a nearby star that created the binary system's neutron star or black hole. "We know we are making an exciting and bold claim so we expect that other astronomers will look at it very carefully," co-author and Princeton student researcher Julia Berndtsson said in a [NASA statement](). But the team thinks it has a "strong argument, and this process is how science works," she added. **READ MORE:** [Signs of first planet found outside our galaxy]() \[*The* *BBC*\] **More on exoplanets:** *[Astronomers May Have Spotted a New Planet Around the Nearest Star]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()