Einstein's technique leads Lithuanian astronomers to breakthrough discovery in space

It’s only the third of its kind ever detected.

In a breakthrough astronomical discovery, scientists have identified a rare gas giant exoplanet. It’s only the third of its kind ever to be found.

It’s located 3,262 light-years away and is 1.3 times the mass of Jupiter. AT2021uey b (the new planet’s name) orbits a small, dwarf star once every 4,170 days. It’s fair to say that it was found in the galaxy’s most hopeless place – the Galactic halo. It’s very far away from the Milky Way’s densely packed center and is a region where such planetary discoveries are extremely uncommon.

“This kind of work takes patience, precision, and a bit of luck,” said Dr. Marius Maskoliūnas, who led the Lithuanian research team from Vilnius University.

“You’re essentially measuring the shadow of something you can’t see – it’s like identifying a bird from its fleeting shadow.”

The team used the elusive gravitational microlensing method. This rare phenomenon, first predicted by Albert Einstein, occurs when a massive object briefly aligns with a distant star and amplifies its light like a cosmic magnifying glass. This flash of light allowed researchers to detect the presence of the gas giant without seeing it directly.

“Most microlensing effects are recorded at the densest part of the galaxy – in its centre and disk. However, we managed to find this microlensing phenomenon quite far from the centre, in the so-called galactic halo,” states Assoc. Prof. Edita Stonkutė, who led the Lithuanian side of the international project.

According to her, the planet’s discovery is significant because of its location and because microlensing is one of the few methods that can detect hidden or distant planets, which traditional techniques often miss.

Nearly 6,000 exoplanets are already known to humankind, with the first one having been confirmed in 1995.