Posted on 10/10/2013 2:17:55 PM PDT by Red Badger
Artist's conception of PSO J318.5-22. Credit: MPIA/V. Ch. Quetz
Multicolor image from the Pan-STARRS1 telescope of the free-floating planet PSO J318.5-22, in the constellation of Capricornus. The planet is extremely cold and faint, about 100 billion times fainter in optical light than the planet Venus. Most of its energy is emitted at infrared wavelengths. The image is 125 arcseconds on a side. Credit: N. Metcalfe & Pan-STARRS 1 Science Consortium
Space and Astronomy Ping!.................
Well now that you know, what are you going to do about it?
Just don’t call it Melancholia.
I’m a lonely little planet in a Asteroid patch..............
I’m guessing there are a lot of them out there.
How much bigger would it need to be to ignite? Then it would just be another young star.
Let's hope they stay 'out there'.....
Yet another cosmic body that will stretch the definition of planet as decreed by the IAU. Why not give this group of objects another name, using Latin this time out. Say, Vagus, or my favorite, Peregrinus?
I'd assume much bigger. NEED MORE MASS! MUST CONSUME HUGE QUANTITIES!.....
“has a mass only six times that of Jupiter.”
ONLY?
Fromm what I remember from college wouldn’t the size of the planet be very close to the critical mass needed for the formation of a star?
“For stars with similar metallicity to the Sun, the theoretical minimum mass the star can have, and still undergo fusion at the core, is estimated to be about 75 times the mass of Jupiter.”
This one is six times the mass of Jupiter, so maybe 12.5 times larger to ignite, rough estimate.
I don’t even know if it is possible for planets to become stars, even gas giants with the right composition. Stars are thought to form from interstellar gas clouds that become dense enough to start collapsing gravitationally. A planet has already coalesced to a gravitational equilibrium, so I think it’s too late at that point.
Maybe gravity hasn't had enough time to increase its' density or rotational speed is too great?
Check my reply #14
I think it is classified as a planet simply because it does not fuse hydrogen, not based on structure or origin.
Maybe. I suppose there could be a bigger gas cloud surrounding it, and this is just the part that has already collapsed into a stable structure.
A failed star, insufficient mass to start the reaction, or coalescing and reaction to start soon- maybe a few million more years.
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