Photo: European Southern Observatory/M.
In recent years, scientists have begun to discoverrogue planetsthat are essentially free floating in space.
Somehow, rogue planets managed to escape revolving around a much larger star.
Photo: European Southern Observatory/M. Kornmesser/S. Guissard, (CC BY-NC-SA)
The first rogue planets identified were large, bigger than our solar system’s biggest planet, Jupiter.
Since then, rogue planets closer to Earth-size were discovered.
In a joint study between NASA and Osaka University researchers, a surprising realization was made.
Photo: Orbital ATK / NASA, viaWikimedia Commons(Public Domain)
Within the Milky Way, our home galaxy, rogue planets likely outnumber planets that orbit stars.
They estimate rogue planets are six times more common in our galaxy.
Since these nomad planets are not close to any stars, they are small, cold, and dark.
Photo: SpaceX, viaWikimedia Commons(CCO)
The best method of discovering rogue planets relies on an event called gravitational microlensing.
Microlensing happens when a star or planet comes into close contact with an unrelated background star.
TIC-107150013 is over 10,000 light-years away from Earth, meaning the planet is even closer.
