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Space

Astronomers may have found the first planet in another galaxy

By Leah Crane

23 September 2020

Âé¶¹´«Ã½. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

The spiral galaxy M51, also known as the Whirlpool galaxy, may be home to the first exoplanet seen outside our galaxy

NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI) and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

In a galaxy far, far away, a huge planet may be orbiting a binary star system. If this planet is real, it would be the most distant world we have ever spotted – the first planet to be found in another galaxy.

A team of researchers led by Rosanne Di Stefano at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts spotted this potential planet, which is called M51-ULS-1b. It resides…

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