Astronomers Discover Largest Group of ‘Rogue Planets’ Yet

Astronomers have just discovered a treasure trove of “rogue planets” – floating planets that do not orbit a star but exist on their own in the depths of space. With masses comparable to Jupiter’s, the 70 or more rogue planets spotted throughout the Milky Way galaxy are the largest group of cosmic nomads ever to be found.

Located in the constellations of Scorpio and Ophiuchus, the planets have been spotted using a series of telescopes on the ground and in space. Typically, rogue planets are difficult to image because they are not close to any stars to make them visible. However, with data compiled over 20 years from the telescopes of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the Gaia satellite of the European Space Agency and more, Núria Miret-Roig, astronomer at the Laboratory of Astrophysics in Bordeaux, France and at the University of Vienna, Austria and his team were able to capture weak thermal signatures emitted by planets that have formed over the past millions of years.

The team published its findings on Wednesday in Nature astronomy.

Location of rogue planets discovered
Image: ESO / N. Risinger (skysurvey.org)

Despite the record-breaking sighting, their findings suggest that many more rogue planets are waiting to be seen.

“There could be several billion of these giant planets floating freely in the Milky Way without a host star,” said Hervé Bouy, astronomer at the Astrophysical Laboratory of Bordeaux, France and co-author of the study, in a statement from hurry.

The discovery is a step towards understanding how these mysterious objects formed in space, according to an ESO press release. It is possible that rogue planets initially formed around stars before being violently ejected from their solar system. Alternatively, they could have formed from the collapse of gas clouds too small to lead to the birth of a new star.

Astronomers are currently awaiting completion of ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), a giant observatory that will play a “crucial” role in finding additional information on rogue planets, according to Bouy. The ELT is expected to begin observations at the end of the decade.

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