A few days ago we heard the news of the first discovery of a planet outside the Milky Way. The M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy) galaxy,
about 23 million light-years from Earth, has detected the presence of a planet the size of Saturn. The planet orbits a binary star. The planet orbits a binary star. One of these twin stars is a dead star.
It’s probably a neutron star, a pulsar, or a black hole. The second star is a blue dwarf. Named M51-ULS-1, M51-ULS-1b is the planet that orbits this galaxy. Let’s see what are the features of this planet.
Features of M51-ULS-1b
This exoplanet is 10 to 100 times larger than Saturn in the Solar System
The planet’s orbit is 10 to 100 times wider than Earth’s orbit.
The planet is constantly attacked by strong radiation emitted by binary stars
Could not figure out how long it will take for the planet to complete one orbit
The confirmation of the planet M51-ULS-1b will lead to a leap in astronomical research. This finding also excites exobiologists looking for extraterrestrial life. It would be exciting and scary at the same time to imagine that the entire universe is made up of planets and life on them.
But the equations of life do not have to be terrestrial. Even if life could be found in other galaxies within the Milky Way, it would have no resemblance to terrestrial life. Then the life on the planets in other galaxies will be weirder than we can imagine.
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