Using data from a NASA X-ray laboratory in space, Xinyu Dai, an astrophysicist and professor at the University of Oklahoma, detected, for the first time ever, a population of planets beyond the Milky Way galaxy. The gravitational force of the galaxy bends the light heading toward the Milky Way, illuminating the galaxy in an effect called microlensing. In that way, the galaxy acts as a magnifying glass of sorts, bringing a previously unseen celestial body into X-ray view. “Microlensing is probably the only way,” Dai said. That means trillions of planets probably reside there, he said, consistent with the ratio of free-floating planets found in the Milky Way, which contains billions of planets.

Source: Washington Post February 05, 2018 23:00 UTC