Lonely 'homeless' planet found

[BaneSilvermoon]

It is a planet because it meets all the necessary criteria to be defined as a planet.

This does seem to fit the requirements of being an extrasolar planet.

Edited November 17, 2012 by BaneSilvermoon

[kobolds]

we read alot of planet/star discovery but I wonder when can we see the close up photo of those planet/star.

[Dan'O]

It is Mongo, the home of Ming the Merciless.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

would that make it a planet or a brown dwarf?

It's not a brown dwarf, it's too small. It has a mass of "between four and seven times that of Jupiter", brown dwarves have masses of 15 to 75 times that of Jupiter. As for it not being a planet because it isn't in orbit around a star, well the International Astronomical Union definition of a planet is limited to solar system objects only, they have not defined what constitutes a planet outside of our solar system. Until they do "planet" is the best fit description of the object.

Maybe it will fly into orbit around a star some time.

They should monitor it and maybe the'll witness a star adopting a homeless planet.

We would have to monitor it for an awfully long time, hundreds of millions, if not billions, of years.

So 100 light years is in "our neighborhood"? And whys it so hot without a star to warm it?

That's what I was wondering.

Maybe it's super massive and the internal pressure is generating this heat, but not so massive as to become a star.

I think the article said something along those lines

Pallidin is correct. Gravity tries to compress large planets causing massive internal pressure and heat at the core. The processes of conduction and convection will cause some of this heat to rise to the surface. This happens, to a lesser degree, with the gas giants in our solar system. The surface of Jupiter receives more heat energy internally than it does from the sun.

This planet was going to be a star but did not grow massive enough to fuse hydrogen into helium. They call these brown dwarfs they are just a big gas giant really.

Not entirely true. Planets (even gas giants) form in a slightly different way to stars (including brown dwarves). Stars form from the gas in a nebula. Planets form from the dust left over after the formation of the stars, so although on the surface a gas giant may appear like a failed star, having enough mass to form a large atmosphere of left over hydrogen, it's core is rock and very different from that of a star.

Wonder how they determined it's 400C?

By measuring the wavelength of infra-red light it emits.

[Hawken]

It's not a brown dwarf, it's too small. It has a mass of "between four and seven times that of Jupiter", brown dwarves have masses of 15 to 75 times that of Jupiter. As for it not being a planet because it isn't in orbit around a star, well the International Astronomical Union definition of a planet is limited to solar system objects only, they have not defined what constitutes a planet outside of our solar system. Until they do "planet" is the best fit description of the object.

We would have to monitor it for an awfully long time, hundreds of millions, if not billions, of years.

Pallidin is correct. Gravity tries to compress large planets causing massive internal pressure and heat at the core. The processes of conduction and convection will cause some of this heat to rise to the surface. This happens, to a lesser degree, with the gas giants in our solar system. The surface of Jupiter receives more heat energy internally than it does from the sun.

Not entirely true. Planets (even gas giants) form in a slightly different way to stars (including brown dwarves). Stars form from the gas in a nebula. Planets form from the dust left over after the formation of the stars, so although on the surface a gas giant may appear like a failed star, having enough mass to form a large atmosphere of left over hydrogen, it's core is rock and very different from that of a star.

By measuring the wavelength of infra-red light it emits.

And I thought they just had a Long Thermometer.

[ReaperS_ParadoX]

This is really interesting, I mean Im sure its not a rare accurance in the universe, Its just the first time astronomers have seen one. I mean If im wrong let me know

Edited December 3, 2012 by R4z3rsPar4d0x