STRAY PLANETS

  

 

There are planets that do not rotate around any star as our earth rotates around sun. Instead of revolving around any mother star they move around the space alone. Scientists have so far discovered about 10 such planets. Astronomers in Hawaii have recently located a free floating celestial body which is about 100 light years from earth and the closest to us so far identified. Scientists could present probable cause for the formation of the stray planets. If there are several massive planets in a star system, their gravitational fields come into conflict, and a large one may repel a smaller one from the star system. In our solar system Jupiter and Saturn are the largest planets and in comparison others are much smaller in size. Therefore, their gravitational fields do no come into conflicts. If there are two or more planets like the Jupiter one of them should have been repelled. The recently discovered object looks like a blue point which indicate that the atmosphere of it is rich with methane. So far it could not be confirmed  whether this object is a planet or a 'brown dwarf' (a type of a small star that has nearly died out).

There may be many stray planets in our galaxy. Since these are not close to any stars light is not fell on them to make visible to us. Scientists, therefore, use infra red telescope to discover them. Russian astronomer  Oleg Malkov says that the main parameter to determine this is by its mass. If the mass is higher it is a star and if lower it is a planet. The only way to estimate the mass is by its interaction with another body. However, the newly discovered body is not located in the proximity of another celestial body and does not interact with any and cannot estimate the mass. Still the astronomer believes that it is a planet not a star. However, the scientists made some approximate estimate of the body and arrived at its mass is 4 to 7 times larger than Jupiter. The temperature of this object is estimated as +430A degrees Celsius, which is typical of a planet, not a star. Astronomers also believe that this object is not formed not earlier than 120 mln years ago in the constellation D orado or the Golden Fish. "Some stray planets may even be inhabited by primitive forms of life",  Vladimir Surdin says, but this one obviously isn't, because it's surface is too hot. Scientists are inclined to think that stray planets are a rather frequent phenomenon in the universe.

To be continued ......

(Indebted to Space Daily - A stray planet by Boris Pavlishev, Moscow (Voice of Russia)

KV George

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