An article published in the journal “Nature Astronomy” reports the identification of a candidate exoplanet in another galaxy, cataloged as M51-ULS-1b. A team of researchers used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton Space Telescope to examine what could be the transit of a Saturn-sized exoplanet in M51, a pair of galaxies. In the larger of the two galaxies, there’s an ultra-luminous X-ray source consisting of a dead star and a blue supergiant, and the candidate exoplanet orbits them. The first confirmation of an extragalactic exoplanet would be extraordinary but in this case, not all alternative explanations can be completely ruled out.

An article published in the journal “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society” reports the discovery of a newborn planet orbiting the red dwarf star 2M0437. A team coordinated by the University of Hawaii at Mānoa used various telescopes to confirm that the discovered object was a planet orbiting that star and to capture a direct image of it. 2M0437b is one of the youngest exoplanets discovered so far, born together with its star in the Taurus Cloud, a stellar nursery that has been the subject of various astronomical studies.

Two articles – one published in the journal “Nature Astronomy” and one published in “The Astrophysical Journal Letters” – report different aspects of the discovery of radio wave emissions from 19 red dwarfs of which at least 4 could have originated from interaction with unknown planets. This study is based on detections obtained with the LOFAR radio telescope to examine the stellar magnetic activity of 19 red dwarfs. Radio emissions have also been detected from ancient and magnetically inactive stars. Data collected by NASA’s TESS space telescope was also added to get a more complete picture of that activity. The most likely explanation is that there’s an interaction with the magnetic field of planets that haven’t been detected.