Waspie_Dwarf Posted April 19, 2016 #1 Share Posted April 19, 2016 Lone Planetary-Mass Object Found in Family of Stars In 2011, astronomers announced that our galaxy is likely teeming with free-floating planets. In fact, these lonely worlds, which sit quietly in the darkness of space without any companion planets or even a host sun, might outnumber stars in our Milky Way galaxy. The surprising discovery begged the question: Where did these objects come from? Are they planets that were ejected from solar systems, or are they actually light-weight stars called brown dwarfs that formed alone in space like stars?A new study using data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, WISE, and the Two Micron All Sky Survey, or 2MASS, provides new clues in this mystery of galactic proportions. Scientists have identified a free-floating, planetary-mass object within a young star family, called the TW Hydrae association. The newfound object, termed WISEA J114724.10−204021.3, or just WISEA 1147 for short, is estimated to be between roughly five to 10 times the mass of Jupiter. Read more... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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