Rogue planets are rambling through galaxy

Rogue planets are rambling through galaxy

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Our Milky Way galaxy may be teeming with rogue planets that ramble through space instead of being locked in orbit around a star, a new study suggests.


If this is the case, these intriguing cosmic bodies would belong to a whole new class of alien worlds, shaking up existing theories of planet formation. These free-flying planets may also raise new and tantalizing questions in the search for life beyond Earth.

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I guess I've just re-started the "Nibiru," "Tyche" and "Planet X" hysteria all over again, just when it seemed to have died down.

The truth is, several of these have already been identified, and scientists suggest they may outnumer the stars in the Milky Way by a factor of 100,000.

Uh oh.

According to reports, in addition to the 700+ of the exoplanets already identified, scientists found about a dozen planets with no discernible host star.

What's that strange light in the sky?

jw


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reply to post by jdub297

I for one welcome our new Space-Faring Meta-galactic Gold-Hungry Viking Marauder Reptilian overlords on randomly moving and possibly even steerable planets.

moving through interstellar space, they would redefine the idea of "Frozen Ball"

And while it would not really be a good thing for one of them to pass through our solar system, if it was rocky, Earth size and smaller, with a frozen atmosphere....I think as it neared our sun it would make one HECK of a comet! Woo Hoo!

Well nibiru supposedly has an orbit according to some sources, so i wouldn't relate these roaming bodies with the common interpretation of planet x.

Although, i'm intrigued as to how life would form on such a contrasting environment - if it would form at all, or if it maybe would provide as transport for another civilization as some theorists would be led to believe.

Who truly knows until we unlock more information about them?

"I wonder if it will be in our lifetime" - is what i always ask myself

and tomarrow they will say that their is alien life, some times i wonder whos smarter regular people or the NASA people

Starships! They're starships!

They just show up as planets on our instruments because their relativistic mass is so high. Travelling at near lightspeed, you see...

reply to post by Sleepingdeath


"Alien" has a very broad meaning. Unfortunately NASA uses the connotations associated with the term "alien" to their advantage.

NASA knows they mean alien life as in any form of life from a foreign body - this allows them to make discoveries such as organisms on another planet (hypothetically), and have the people believe another thing through assumption.

The people ASSUME they mean big grey, human-like creatures, so this introduces speculation.

Personally, i think the people have the potential, but NASA aren't exactly founded upon freelance scientists and researchers. They're a government funded agency, who has to justify their annual budget by taking orders within their jurisdiction.

So whenever we rely on nasa releasing such information, we might as well have faith in the american government.

reply to post by Sleepingdeath


Regular people make claims and say just trust me. NASA makes discoveries and shows the evidence. I am sorry if you can not see the difference. NASA will not be talking about the discovery of alien life tomorrow.

reply to post by eriktheawful

moving through interstellar space, they would redefine the idea of "Frozen Ball"

Actually, no. Astronomers theorize that some may have enough internal heat or tectonic action that they could remain fairly hospitable.

jw

For some reason this reminds me of Space:1999.

I guess that dates me as a child of the 70s

Originally posted by xxdaniel21
Well nibiru supposedly has an orbit according to some sources, so i wouldn't relate these roaming bodies with the common interpretation of planet x.

Although, i'm intrigued as to how life would form on such a contrasting environment - if it would form at all, or if it maybe would provide as transport for another civilization as some theorists would be led to believe.

Who truly knows until we unlock more information about them?

"I wonder if it will be in our lifetime" - is what i always ask myself

Some of them are believed to have been "captured" by stars around which they did not form. All are subject to capture as they roam, and there is always the possibility that our Sun may eventually or may have captured one already.

jw

Fascinating theory!

Just shows how little we actually understand about our cosmic neighbourhood,although lately we seem to be taking steps in the right direction!

Question is, how do they detect these rogue planets as our telescopes arn't powerful enough to see planets outside our solar system. The only way we currently detect them is by the wobble of the star caused by the pull of the planet orbiting around it and as there is no star to wobble with these rogue planets I don't see how we could possibly detect them or know about their existance.

Originally posted by michael1983l
Question is, how do they detect these rogue planets as our telescopes arn't powerful enough to see planets outside our solar system. The only way we currently detect them is by the wobble of the star caused by the pull of the planet orbiting around it and as there is no star to wobble with these rogue planets I don't see how we could possibly detect them or know about their existance.

X-ray and infrared signatures. New tools have been launched and more are planned.

Most exoplanets around stars have been discovered by the very faint light emitted by the star as the planet passes between the star and our perspective. The difference in light is miniscule, and that in itself is amazing detection. I believe one or two super gas giant planets have actually been imaged.

Originally posted by michael1983l
Question is, how do they detect these rogue planets as our telescopes arn't powerful enough to see planets outside our solar system. The only way we currently detect them is by the wobble of the star caused by the pull of the planet orbiting around it and as there is no star to wobble with these rogue planets I don't see how we could possibly detect them or know about their existance.

They employ gravitational lensing, among other things.

Once the location is confirmed, other instruments can come into play.

jw

reply to post by jdub297

Originally posted by jdub297
I guess I've just re-started the "Nibiru," "Tyche" and "Planet X" hysteria all over again, just when it seemed to have died down.

Yup, all you, it's your fault... which has nothing to do with the scientists/astronomers working on these theories.

Actually this really should not fit in with the Planet X theories. As they all center around return of such a planet, one that has been here before, and takes a long time to travel through it's orbit, so... not a rogue.

reply to post by Lighterside


There are some who theorize that "X" or Tyche may be a captured rogue.

Doesn't mean it's true, just that some theorize because ir would be inconsistent with understood mechanics of the solar system's origin.

reply to post by jdub297


Rouge planets seem like a fascinating thing to study, but at the same time but are also a terrifying thought at the same time, since there could possibly be so many of them.

reply to post by Greensquad414


Since we beleive that stars and planets "accrete" over time in ordinary stellar evolution, it should come as no surprise to find that some random gas clouds do not have the mass to reach fusion temperatue/pressure, and simply become rocky or gaseous independent accretions.

I'm not really surpised by this "discovery," but wonder why it took so long to confirm. I suppose our abilities to "see" them just hadn't developed until now.