Wandering star brings planet from another galaxy into the Milky Way
49 replies, posted
[img]http://static.guim.co.uk/static/96982/zones/news/images/logo.gif[/img]
[url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/nov/18/wandering-star-planet-galaxy]Source[/url]
[release][url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/video/2010/nov/18/visitors-galaxy-dying-star-planet]Video[/url]
These days, the discovery of yet another planet orbiting yet another distant star in our galaxy doesn't seem out of the ordinary. Unless, of course, the planet and star came from a galaxy far, far away.
HIP13044b is the first planet ever detected in the Milky Way that was born outside our galaxy.
Thanks to improvements in telescope technology, astronomers have found evidence for almost 500 extrasolar planets in the past 15 years, heavenly bodies of different sizes orbiting distant stars. But all of those confirmed by scientists have originated within the Milky Way.
The newly discovered planet has a mass at least 1.25 times that of Jupiter and orbits a star called HIP13044, a giant near the end of its life that is part of the "Helmi stream". This is a group of stars that once belonged to a dwarf galaxy before it was cannibalised by the Milky Way between six and nine billion years ago.
"This discovery is very exciting," said Rainer Klement of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) and author of a paper published today in Science Express. "For the first time, astronomers have detected a planetary system in a stellar stream of extragalactic origin. Because of the great distances involved, there are no confirmed detections of planets in other galaxies. But this cosmic merger has brought an extragalactic planet within our reach."
HIP13044 is around 2,000 light years from Earth and appears in the southern constellation Fornax. Astronomers detected the planet by looking out for the small, gravitationally induced movements of its star as the planet orbits. The researchers measured the wobbles using a spectrograph connected to a 2.2-metre telescope at the European Southern Observatory's La Silla Observatory in Chile.
"This discovery is part of a study where we are systematically searching for exoplanets that orbit stars nearing the end of their lives," says Johny Setiawan, also from MPIA and a co-author of the Science paper. "This discovery is particularly intriguing when we consider the distant future of our own planetary system, as the Sun is also expected to become a red giant in about five billion years."
HIP13044b is relatively close to its star, say the scientists, at its closest approach reaching less than 0.055 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun, and taking just over 16 days to complete an orbit. The star itself has already passed the red giant phase, where it would have expanded to several times its original diameter as it ran out of hydrogen fuel – a fate that will befall our own Sun in a few billion years.
"The star is rotating relatively quickly," said Setiawan. "One explanation is that HIP13044 swallowed its inner planets during the red giant phase, which would make the star spin more quickly."
He added that there are unanswered questions about how the planet, which orbits a star containing very few chemical elements other than hydrogen and helium, was formed when there was seemingly such a small range of material available. Until now, very few planets have been discovered orbiting stars such as this.
"It is a puzzle for the widely accepted model of planet formation to explain how such a star, which contains hardly any heavy elements at all, could have formed a planet," said Setiawan. "Planets around stars like this must probably form in a different way."[/release]
inb4 people see it's another thread by me and rage due to WikiLeaks news..
Can't think of a pun, damn.
but that's pretty cool.
Awesome, I like exoplanets. :3:
Planet Colbert
[QUOTE]HIP13044 is around 2,000 light years from Earth and appears in the southern constellation Fornax[/QUOTE]
Isn't that the porn mag from ME2
Awesome I love space
OH keep your pants dry guys.
You know we're not going anywhere in the next 70 years that is outside our solar system.
[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;26174968]OH keep your pants dry guys.[/QUOTE]
I can't, it's Fornax!
[QUOTE=cjone2;26174953]Isn't that the porn mag from ME2[/QUOTE]
Yes.
Brb moving to fornax
I wonder if they still sell Asari/Hanar porn games. I heard they're really nasty.
Illegal immigrant planet
That's just... Beautiful.
Imagine if that planet has life around it or around it's moon. They would see nothing but the star and the bowshock it probably creates around it. No other stars for their nights :saddowns:
Planet x is coming the end is nigh the end nigh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[QUOTE=Eudoxia;26176296]That's just... Beautiful.
Imagine if that planet has life around it or around it's moon. They would see nothing but the star and the bowshock it probably creates around it. No other stars for their nights :saddowns:[/QUOTE]
I think you forgot about the fucking huge planet in the sky. They'd probably see that too.
[editline]20th November 2010[/editline]
but yeah
It's the death star moving into position.
We're all fucked.
Welcome to the Party! Just Position yourself here, A asteroid may hit you so yeah... Enjoy your stay!
[QUOTE=-Xemit-;26177853]They don't know how the planet formed? I tell you, aliens made it.[/QUOTE]
The Magratheans do everything, don't they? I hope it's a planet made of solid gold.
[QUOTE=Eudoxia;26176296]That's just... Beautiful.
Imagine if that planet has life around it or around it's moon. They would see nothing but the star and the bowshock it probably creates around it. No other stars for their nights :saddowns:[/QUOTE]
Actually, it was born in a smaller galaxy that the Milky Way swallowed up, which I think is way cooler because from its point of view, there was an entire galaxy slowly colliding with it. How cool would it be to get a close-up view of a spiral galaxy?
Space never ceases to amaze.
Space pirates are taking a planet hostage for 40billion space cash.
First they had to get out of international space.
[QUOTE=Joazzz;26178249]Space never ceases to amaze.[/QUOTE]
It's kinda scary if you think. Space is so ENORMOUS, and so is our world the way we see it.
Nothing but darkness around us, everywhere. Imagine if our planet is just somehow fell off. Not literally, but imagine all the technologies, the big capital cities and everything would simply go in vain with the snap of your fingers.
It's amazing how clueless we actually are, yet we are not afraid.
I'm just wondering, [b]to what end[/b] are we building and inventing new technologies and what-not?
It came from another galaxy? This is amazing!
[QUOTE=ASmellyOgreV2;26178078]Actually, it was born in a smaller galaxy that the Milky Way swallowed up, which I think is way cooler because from its point of view, there was an entire galaxy slowly colliding with it. How cool would it be to get a close-up view of a spiral galaxy?[/QUOTE]
Pretty normal, considering we're inside one just now :v:
I hope they had visas.
[QUOTE=ZekeTwo;26176142]Illegal immigrant planet[/QUOTE]
Coming in here, stealing our space women!
[QUOTE=mrfrogurt;26185135]Coming in here, stealing our space women![/QUOTE]
And our space jobs :arghfist::saddowns:
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