Scientists Spot Alien World 3.1 Quadrillion Miles Away
That dot in the corner is an alien planet. In fact, it's the first alien planet from another solar system that humans have ever seen. Planet M35-117 (I'm calling it that) is 500 million light years away and eight times larger then gas giant Jupiter. The folks at University Of Toronto are credited with this ground-breaking snapshot and have even thrown out some pretty interesting ideas. Some UT astronomers say that the planet is probably orbiting the star but theorize that it is also likely that it's just hanging there in dead space.
This could potentially change a lot in astronomy. Planets were originally theorized to be formed by matter in close proximity of a star -- M35-117 is 11 times further then Neptune is to our sun.
This could potentially change a lot in astronomy. Planets were originally theorized to be formed by matter in close proximity of a star -- M35-117 is 11 times further then Neptune is to our sun.
2008-09-19 07:32:23 GMT