Space & Astronomy

Mystery object spotted passing between the Earth and a distant star

By T.K. Randall
May 30, 2026

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) The discovery was made using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) during observations of the Large Magellanic Cloud - a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way.

Thanks to an effect known as gravitational lensing, the researchers noticed a temporary brightening of one particular star indicative of an object passing in front of it.

This brightening effect lasted approximately one hour.

The question is, what could this object - referred to by the team as 'Phoebe' - have been ?One possibility is that the object was a rogue planet - a free roaming world that had become separated from its original solar system and now floats untethered through the interstellar void.

If true, it would make this the first ever detection of an extragalactic planet.

The researchers, however, believe that the most likely explanation is that Phoebe is in fact something known as a primordial black hole.

This theoretical type of black hole is thought to have formed shortly after the Big Bang from extremely dense, tightly packed pockets of subatomic matter that had gravitationally collapsed.

"Based on a comparison of the optical depths of the three galactic models, it is far more likely that Phoebe belongs to the dark matter density and, hence, is the best candidate for a [primordial black hole]," the study authors wrote.

Source: IFL Science

Tags: Earth, Star