A planet may have been detected in a galaxy outside of our own. There are thousands of planets detected around stars in our own Milky Way galaxy, but for the first time we may have detected a planet in another galaxy, called the Whirlpool Galaxy, which is more than 23 MILLION lightyears away. Not only is this planet unusual for being discovered in a galaxy far, far away, but it is also usual because it orbits a binary star system which produces an enormous amount of X-rays. It was by monitoring those X-rays that helped identify the planet. Tune in to see how all this was accomplished on this episode of Ask the Astronomers Live!

Biographies of Show Participants

PHIL LAMARR (Host)

A Los Angeles native, Phil is an alumnus of Yale University and The Groundlings Theater and perhaps is best known as one of the original cast members of MAD TV, as “Hermes” on FUTURAMA,  as "Marvin" in PULP FICTION, “Green Lantern” on JUSTICE LEAGUE and as the voice of SAMURAI JACK. For over 30 years Phil has thrilled audiences with his work on camera and behind the microphone on TV shows such as STATIC SHOCK, FAMILY GUY, STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, the CW’s THE FLASH & SUPERGIRL, GET SHORTY, LUCIFER and VEEP; feature films like MADAGASCAR 2, INCREDIBLES 2, and THE LION KING (2019) and video games including FORTNITE, SHADOW OF MORDOR, and the INJUSTICE, METAL GEAR SOLID, and the MORTAL KOMBAT series.

JULIA BERNDTSSON (Astronomer)

Julia Berndtsson is a Swedish undergraduate student in physics at Princeton University. In 2018 she participated in a summer research program for high school students and started working with Dr. Rosanne Di Stefano — a collaboration that they ended up extending into 2021. She is currently finishing her Bachelor’s degree whilst conducting research in topics in astronomy and applied physics.

ROSANNE DI STEFANO (Astronomer)

Dr. Rosanne Di Stefano is a Senior Astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. Her work has encompassed a broad range of astronomical systems: stars interacting within dense stellar environments, the binary and triple evolution of possible progenitors of Type Ia supernovae, X-ray astronomy, and gravitational microlensing. Most recently, she and her team discovered the first candidate planet in an external galaxy, M51.