First alien planets discovered in star system outside the Milky Way

Astronomers have discovered the first planet to be found in a star system outside the Milky Way.

An alien world was observed around a star that’s more than 3.8 billion light-years away using a technique called gravitational microlensing, which allows objects to be detected from a very long way away.

Xinyu Dai, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Oklahoma, said: ‘We are very excited about this discovery. This is the first time anyone has discovered planets outside our galaxy.

‘These small planets are the best candidate for the signature we observed in this study using the microlensing technique. We analyzed the high frequency of the signature by modelling the data to determine the mass.’

Sadly, we won’t know if aliens live on the planets because we simply can’t see that far.

There's a fucking new planet which is the closest to Earth ever found — Sadly, we will never know what the newly discovered planets look like

Microlensing uses a natural phenomenon in which light ‘bends’ around a large object and magnifies distant objects, allowing astronomers to peer into deep space.

Eduardo Guerras, a postdoctoral researcher at the university, said: ‘This is an example of how powerful the techniques of analysis of extragalactic microlensing can be.

‘This galaxy is located 3.8 billion light years away, and there is not the slightest chance of observing these planets directly, not even with the best telescope one can imagine in a science fiction scenario.

‘However, we are able to study them, unveil their presence and even have an idea of their masses. This is very cool science.’

Original Article

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