Astronomers have for the first time spotted a planet that originated outside the galaxy. Till date, about 500 planets have been discovered. This is the first known planet to have been born elsewhere. The gas planet, at least 25 percent heavier than Jupiter or 400 times heavier than Earth, orbits a star that started life in a dwarf galaxy, according to the journal Science Express. Known as HIP 13044b, the hydrogen and helium planet sits in a solar system belonging to a group of stars called the Helmi stream, some 2,000 light years away from Earth, the Telegraph reports. Between six and nine billion years ago, the Helmi merged with the Milky Way in an act of 'galactic cannibalism'. It is now in a southern constellation of the Milky Way called the Fornax or Furnace. Because of the vast distance, astronomers at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in La Silla, Chile, could not detect the planet visibly, using the 2.2 metre-diameter telescope. Instead, they inferred i...