This artist’s conception illustrates a Jupiter-like planet alone in the dark of space, floating freely without a parent star. Astronomers recently uncovered evidence for ten such lone worlds, which are thought to have been “booted,” or ejected, from developing solar systems. The planet survey, called the Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics (MOA) project, scanned the central bulge of our Milky Way galaxy from 2006 to 2007. It used a 5.9-foot (1.8-meter) telescope at Mount John University Observatory in New Zealand, and a technique called gravitational microlensing. Astronomers estimate that free-floating worlds are more common than stars in our Milky Way galaxy, and perhaps in other galaxies, too. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)
I find the subject treated in this article absolutely fascinating.
This is a field that has changed spectacularly, fundamentally, since I was in high school or even an undergraduate. At least, from what I can see and what I recall.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In