Waspie_Dwarf Posted October 9, 2013 #1 Share Posted October 9, 2013 A Strange Lonely Planet Found without a Star An international team of astronomers has discovered an exotic young planet that is not orbiting a star. This free-floating planet, dubbed PSO J318.5-22, is just 80 light-years away from Earth and has a mass only six times that of Jupiter. The planet formed a mere 12 million years ago—a newborn in planet lifetimes.It was identified from its faint and unique heat signature by the Pan-STARRS 1 (PS1) wide-field survey telescope on Haleakala, Maui. Follow-up observations using other telescopes in Hawaii show that it has properties similar to those of gas-giant planets found orbiting around young stars. And yet PSO J318.5-22 is all by itself, without a host star. Read more... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickian Posted October 9, 2013 #2 Share Posted October 9, 2013 Are they absolutely sure it isn't an alien invasion come to take our star from us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightScreams Posted October 10, 2013 #3 Share Posted October 10, 2013 A planet space ship. Like Unicron! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imaginarynumber1 Posted October 10, 2013 #4 Share Posted October 10, 2013 A planet space ship. Like Unicron! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Bad Voodoo Posted October 10, 2013 #5 Share Posted October 10, 2013 http://io9.com/astronomers-say-theyve-found-a-rogue-planet-with-no-su-1443571329 A planet six times more massive than Jupiter has been spotted drifting, cold and alone, eighty light years from Earth. It's a sunless world, and astronomers say it could be the first real example of a free-floating planet to date. But how it got separated from its parent star in the first place remains a mystery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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