2022 Discovered possible new planet in M51 galaxy.

Nia Imara and Rosanne DiStefano proposed a method for detecting exoplanets in X-ray binary star systems. Imara, Di Stefano, and their other collaborators found evidence, using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, of a potential planet passing in front of a star that is 28 million light-years away in the M51 galaxy. Their findings were published to Nature Astronomy in an October 2021 paper entitled "A possible planet candidate in an external galaxy detected through X-ray transit." If the findings are confirmed, this would represent the first sighting of a planet outside of our Milky Way Galaxy. Imara uses as part of her research 3D printers to create resin sculptures of molecular clouds so she can better study them. DiStefano’s work has encompassed a broad range of astronomical systems: stars interacting within dense stellar environments, the binary evolution of possible progenitors of Type Ia supernovae, X-ray astronomy, and gravitational microlensing. She designed a program that brought undergraduates into the Cambridge Public Schools to teach astronomy. DiStefano also wrote the first comprehensive history of supersymmetry and supergravity, ‘Notes on the Conceptual History of Supersymmetry, Supergravity, and Superstrings’. It constituted a major portion of the book Superworld, edited by Kane and Shifman, World Scientific (2001).

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Category:
Astronomy - Astrophysics

Completion Status:
yes

Patent Number:
N/A

Co-Inventor:
DiStefano, Imara