Posted on 11/14/2012 5:03:11 PM PST by BenLurkin
Astronomers used ESO's Very Large Telescope and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope to find CFBDSIR2149, a free-floating planet with the mass of Jupiter that seems to wander through space without orbiting around a star like most planets we know do. In addition, the planet is actually relatively close to our solar system, only 100 light-years away, and offers scientists a more intimate setting to study a planet and its atmosphere.
This isn't the first time that a free-floating object has been found in space, but the previous discoveries haven't provided scientists with enough information to label the body as a planet. Instead, they could have been brown dwarfs, or "failed" stars.
"These objects are important, as they can either help us understand more about how planets may be ejected from planetary systems, or how very light objects can arise from the star formation process," says Delorme. "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."
The discovery has scientists extremely excited since it could mean that these 'rogue' planets are more numerous than previously thought.
(Excerpt) Read more at latinospost.com ...
Can we send liberals there?
I’ve long suspected that there were lots of nomads out there and I believe captured nomads could explain some of the exoplanets we’ve found with retrograde or wildly tilted orbits.
That’s no planet ... it’s a space staion !
Lars von Trier’s weird, incredible movie, “Melancholia” deals with one of these rogue planets entering our solar system. Kirsten Dunst and Kiefer Sutherland are the headliners. Netflix has it.
Very cool.
“An Orphaned Planet Without A Parent Star”
Soon to be a Disney movie.
Nice rendering.
Very impressive, CC.
Nice.
ABC Purchases TV Script Based On Disney Ride ‘Big Thunder Mountain Railroad’
November 13, 2012 11:17 AM
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/11/13/big-thunder-mountain-railroad-may-be-adapted-to-tv/
Now,a little guidance, and voila! an intersteller cruiser.
Sort of a grand understatement - that is, in terms of temperature.
On a free floating planet in deep space far from a sun the temperature would be about -459° Fahrenheit, -273° Celsius, or 0° on the Kelvin scale.
The temperature in deep space is thought to be 0° Kelvin, for the most part. So any such planet in deep space would be more than just frozen...
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Frozen - a fun word to use to pull kids into a science discussion...
I just want to know which way it’s “wandering”.
Note: this topic is from 11/14/2012. Thanks BenLurkin.
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