Unique Planet With No Star to Orbit Has Been Discovered
- 11 years ago
Researchers from the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii in Manoa have discovered the first verified planet that is floating in space without a nearby star to orbit.
Researchers from the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii in Manoa have discovered the first verified planet that is floating in space without a nearby star to orbit.
Using data collected from several telescopes in Hawaii, including the Gemini North Telescope on the summit of Mauna Kea and the Pan-STARRS 1 wide-field survey telescope located at the top of Haleakala on the island of Maui, astronomers have found the rogue planet floating eighty light years away from Earth.
The planet’s mass is reportedly six times larger than Jupiter, and it is associated with a moving group of young stars known as Beta Pictoris.
According to a press release from Michael Liu, at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy, who led the study: “We have never before seen an object free-floating in space that looks like this. It has all the characteristics of young planets found around other stars, but it is drifting out there all alone.”
There have been other free-floating celestial bodies previously discovered by scientists, but they were either identified as orphaned planets or failed stars.
Researchers from the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii in Manoa have discovered the first verified planet that is floating in space without a nearby star to orbit.
Using data collected from several telescopes in Hawaii, including the Gemini North Telescope on the summit of Mauna Kea and the Pan-STARRS 1 wide-field survey telescope located at the top of Haleakala on the island of Maui, astronomers have found the rogue planet floating eighty light years away from Earth.
The planet’s mass is reportedly six times larger than Jupiter, and it is associated with a moving group of young stars known as Beta Pictoris.
According to a press release from Michael Liu, at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy, who led the study: “We have never before seen an object free-floating in space that looks like this. It has all the characteristics of young planets found around other stars, but it is drifting out there all alone.”
There have been other free-floating celestial bodies previously discovered by scientists, but they were either identified as orphaned planets or failed stars.