I love this sort of thing.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20309762 'Rogue planet' spotted 100 light-years away Astronomers have spotted a "rogue planet" - wandering the cosmos without a star to orbit - 100 light-years away. Recent finds of such planets have suggested that they may be common, but candidates have eluded close study. The proximity of the new rogue planet has allowed astronomers to guess its age: a comparatively young 50-120 million years old. The planet, dubbed CFBDSIR2149-0403, is outlined in a paper posted online to appear in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Rogue planets are believed to form in one of two ways: in much the same way as planets bound to stars, coalescing from a disk of dust and debris but then thrown out of a host star's orbit, or in much the same way as stars but never reaching a full star's mass. One tricky part is determining if rogue planet candidates are as massive as the "failed stars" known as brown dwarfs, further along in stellar evolution but without enough mass to spark the nuclear fusion that causes starlight. Either way, the objects end up free of a host star's gravity. Given that most planets we know of are found through the effects they have on their host star's light, pinning down rogue planets has proven difficult. An international team went on a vast hunt for the planets using the Canada France Hawaii Telescope on Hawaii's Mauna Kea and the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile and came up with just one candidate. "This object was discovered during a scan that covered the equivalent of 1,000 times the [area] of the full moon," said study co-author Etienne Artigau of the University of Montreal. "We observed hundreds of millions of stars and planets, but we only found one homeless planet in our neighbourhood." But crucially, the new find appears to be moving along with a similarly itinerant group of celestial objects, called the "AB Doradus moving group" - a collection of about 30 stars which are of roughly the same composition and are believed to have formed at about the same time. Because CFBDSIR2149-0403 appears to be moving with the group - to a certainty of 87% - astronomers believe it too formed with the stars, about 50 -120 million years ago. It is this estimate of age that allows astronomers to use computer models of planet evolution to make further guesses as to the planet's mass and temperature. The team believe it has a temperature of about 400C and a mass between four and seven times that of Jupiter - well short of the mass limit that would make it a likely brown dwarf. What remains unclear is just how the planet came to be - the tiny beginnings of a star, or planet launched from its home? Study co-author Philippe Delorme of the Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics of Grenoble, said that the latter implied a great many planets like it. "If this little object is a planet that has been ejected from its native system, it conjures up the striking image of orphaned worlds, drifting in the emptiness of space," he said.
It could be a giant Death Star. How fast is it going? And in which direction? We prolly need to organise a Rebellion.
Years ago i saw a pic Hubble snapped of a rogue planet that was flung free of its star and had pierced through the center of a gaseous nebula leaving a trail of ionized gas in it's wake. It was quite interesting.
But that's not really defying gravity. All it took was for it to be flung out of a solar system, assuming it had ever been in one to begin with. Now it's apparently gravitationally locked to something else, namely whatever is governing the movement of the cluster of stars to which it appears to belong.
A "Rogue" planet? Really? Now we know where all the *********s wanting to secede can go to! Take Sarah with y'all!
Granny says dat's prob'ly where Uncle Ferd's lil' green friends come from... Ninth planet may exist beyond Pluto Sun, Feb 12, 2017 - There might be a ninth planet in the solar system after all, and it is not Pluto.
It ties in with the general theory of "rogue planets" Apparently there are billions in galaxies. The view of gravity is changing to a non ordered set of planetary bodies apposed to a strict formation. Ie planets flung from a orbiting mass and wander.
I remember when this story first broke about a year ago and I was super excited. All of the science forums were going crazy. I was sort of hoping somebody would have spotted the thing by now if it's actually there but I understand how hard it is to find something that small so far away with little light being reflected. The wait continues, I hope it actually turns out to be a planet and those gravitational anomalies astronomers are seeing aren't being caused by something less interesting...
It'll be exciting if something very large/massive ends up being discovered so far out. It's strange to think of a large planet being too faint to detect, but I guess those massive distances will do that, especially if it's not emitting much heat of its own.
More likely a "Product" of Gravity when one star interacted with another stars gravitational hold upon it.
On a side note it looks like NASA is going to hold a press conference on Wednesday about something they discovered. Judging by the panel of experts they have it seems like they may have successfully analyzed an atmosphere of an exoplanet and found something interesting. General public probably won't care because most space stuff is boring to them but I'm super excited to hear what they say. Plus I'm really enjoying reading the reddit comments about what folks are speculating, the majority of which are hilarious. Oh Average Joe...no it's not aliens...I wish more people took interest in space stuff. It's my favorite hobby. Average Joe is like whatever screw NASA unless you find aliens we don't give a (*)(*)(*)(*) lol This makes me worry about NASA and funding for space research. It becomes increasingly hard to convince the public to support the money for NASA when the general public has these unrealistic expectations of what they think NASA can do. I applaud the public for dreaming big but then NASA always has to unfortunately crush their souls all the time. It's like: NASA: We found a planet orbiting another star! Public: Holy crap there's more planets than just ours!? NASA: Yes! We also found one that's rocky like ours and it's in the same area from its star that the Earth is from the Sun! It could possibly have life on it! Public: OMG!!! Show us pictures! NASA: Ehh...we can't...we can't actually see it...we just know its there because math and stuff. Public: Oh ok, well that's still cool! Build a probe and send it there then! We wanna see it! NASA: Ehh we can't exactly do that either....it's pretty far away... Public: Like how far? How long will it take to get there? We can wait... NASA: Ehh....like 500,000 years... Public: What the hell? Space is stupid. Sucks lol. But anyway, heres the link. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/...ference-on-discovery-beyond-our-solar-system/ I'm excited, I know the public doesn't even know nor care but whatever, no pleasing them unless we find a Death Star floating out there or something lol.
The first known system of seven Earth-size planets around a single star. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/...h-of-earth-size-habitable-zone-planets-around NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed the first known system of seven Earth-size planets around a single star. Three of these planets are firmly located in the habitable zone, the area around the parent star where a rocky planet is most likely to have liquid water. The discovery sets a new record for greatest number of habitable-zone planets found around a single star outside our solar system. All of these seven planets could have liquid water key to life as we know it under the right atmospheric conditions, but the chances are highest with the three in the habitable zone. This discovery could be a significant piece in the puzzle of finding habitable environments, places that are conducive to life, said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the agencys Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Answering the question are we alone is a top science priority and finding so many planets like these for the first time in the habitable zone is a remarkable step forward toward that goal. ... In contrast to our sun, the TRAPPIST-1 star classified as an ultra-cool dwarf is so cool that liquid water could survive on planets orbiting very close to it, closer than is possible on planets in our solar system. All seven of the TRAPPIST-1 planetary orbits are closer to their host star than Mercury is to our sun. The planets also are very close to each other. If a person was standing on one of the planets surface, they could gaze up and potentially see geological features or clouds of neighboring worlds, which would sometimes appear larger than the moon in Earth's sky. Imagine the tidal pulls each planet would impose on its neighbors as is zips by.
Equally awesome to me! I jumped right on the computer the second I got home yesterday to read about their discovery. From reading the AMA they did on reddit it seems like the James Webb Telescope will be able to analyze the atmosphere's of these planets. I can't wait until they finally launch that telescope. So many new discoveries will likely be made.
If it rapidly changes course we better be EMP'ing our own **** so it doesn't find us. Word to the wise, don't trust anyone more advanced technologically than you are.
Amen!! To think that the James Webb telescope has come so close to being cut due to bud Amen! I just ran across this picture of Saturn's moon, Pan as seen by a spacecraft fly-by: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017...nd-saturn-s-moon-pan-collected-planet-s-rings How weird is THAT?
