Until now, planets known to humans have never wandered into the Milky Way galaxy. However, Friday’s announcement that planet HIP 13044b entered our galaxy hitched to a giant star called HIP 13044 has astronomers rethinking how — and where — planets form.
“This is an exciting discovery,” said Max Planck Institute for Astronomy researcher Rainer Klement, who selected HIP 13044 for the study. “For the first time, astronomers have detected a planetary system of extragalactic origin.”
