365NEWSX
365NEWSX
Subscribe

Welcome

Scientists discover Mars-sized rogue planet aimlessly zooming through the Milky Way - CBS News

Scientists discover Mars-sized rogue planet aimlessly zooming through the Milky Way - CBS News

Scientists discover Mars-sized rogue planet aimlessly zooming through the Milky Way - CBS News
Oct 30, 2020 1 min, 17 secs

Scientists have discovered a lonely orphaned planet wandering through the Milky Way with no parent star to guide it — a "rogue" planet, stuck in endless darkness with no days, nights, or gravitational siblings to keep it company. .

It's possible our galaxy is filled to the brim with these rogue planets, but this one is particularly unusual for one special reason: it is the smallest found to date — even smaller than Earth — with a mass similar to Mars. .

Scientists have found over 4,000 "extrasolar" planets, also known as exoplanets, which are planets that orbits a star other than the sun.

Many exoplanets — for example, one where it rains liquid iron — bear no resemblance to planets in our solar system, but they all have one shared trait: they all orbit a star. .

But just a few years ago, astronomers in Poland found evidence of free-floating planets, unattached gravitationally to a star, in the Milky Way galaxy.

Because free-floating planets have no parent star and emit almost no radiation, astronomers have to take a different approach to find them. .

Because this technique relies only on the brightness of the source and not the lens, it allows astronomers to spot faint or dark objects — like rogue planets. 

It's not totally clear why these rogue planets have no parent stars, but scientists don't think the planets had any say in the matter

Studying these free-floating planets can help astronomers better understand the unstable histories of young planetary systems — including our own solar system. 

Summarized by 365NEWSX ROBOTS

RECENT NEWS

SUBSCRIBE

Get monthly updates and free resources.

CONNECT WITH US

© Copyright 2024 365NEWSX - All RIGHTS RESERVED