Astronomers have discovered a planet drifting independently of a record number of stars in the Milky Way, natural astronomyFrom research published in Of the approximately 170 celestial bodies identified by infrared radiation, there are 70 stray exoplanets – a finding that has virtually doubled the number of known stray planets.
We didn’t know what to expect and it was very exciting to find a lot
Nurja Merritt Roig of Purdue University’s Astrophysics Laboratory is happy about the discovery.
Exoplanets are best detected by their effect on their stars, by the deflection caused by their gravity, or by the decrease in brightness observed as they pass. On planets outside the star system, these methods do not work.
Merritt-Roig analyzed 20 years of data from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, the Japanese Subaru Telescope from Hawaii, the ESA Gaia probe, and the Dark Camera from the Chilean Victor M Blanco Telescope.
Small motions, color and brightness of tens of millions of light sources were measured. Based on that, we were able to safely identify the weakest of the celestial bodies, the stray planets
Merritt Roig pointed out.
Migratory planets are found in the constellation Scorpio in the Milky Way region 420 light. The uncertainty of their exact number stems from their inability to measure their mass. Celestial bodies, thirteen times more massive than Jupiter, are no longer considered a planet, but a falling star or a brown dwarf.
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However, the result confirms that errant planets are more common than we thought, and may outnumber the “normal” planets orbiting the star.
More research could discover how these planets form. Do they never see a star and form of the interstellar nebula condensed, or do dramatic gravitational interactions fly from their star system?
