Fascinating planets

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/home/How-Many-Unbound-Planets-Roam-the-Milky-Way-140917963.html



we're just a grain of sand

always wondered if there were planets just sitting in space with no star

"rogue planet"

sounds so badass.

our planet is a grain of sand, and we're each a grain of sand on that planet. It's a funny concept...we're each really just an atom on one grain of sand in a sea of sand.

I've also wondered.
Scientists discover new stars by measuring over a period of time, the spectroscopy of a star. They look for shifts in the intensity of different wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, and can determine if planets are causing red shift (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshift). This is why they've discovered so many new planets in the past 15-20 years, and continually discover more.

But if planets exist in lightless portions of space, then we'd have no way of telling, using our current way of discovering new planets.

However, I don't think planets can form without a star (look up "accretion disc," it'll explain how planets form) so any floating out in space without a star would have to have been knocked out of orbit, or something could have happened to its star.

Also, I imagine a planet floating without a star would also eventually be picked up by a system, once it entered that star's gravitational influence, or it could even be torn apart by opposing gravitational forces. Who knows? If they do exist, I doubt that they last long.

Wow, I should have read that article before speculating.

Cram, I bow to your science. But a hypothetical...

Couldn't a be created in a stars field but then become separate? Once separated, it most likely wouldn't maintain any form of light cycle, and the chances of it passing close enough to another stars gravitational field are slight (remember, space is pretty much empty) and the chances of passing near two spatial bodies with gravitational fields strong enough to tear it apart are minimal. It would still have its own gravitational field wouldnt it?

from what I remember reading,our solar system is one of the few with as many planets as it has....most never have 8,most I read about have like 3 or 4 at the most.

but I mean...they're so far away they could have 10 and we wouldn't know >__>

:'( come back Pluto I miss you.I'll always consider it a planet

Pariah wrote:Cram, I bow to your science. But a hypothetical...

Couldn't a be created in a stars field but then become separate? Once separated, it most likely wouldn't maintain any form of light cycle, and the chances of it passing close enough to another stars gravitational field are slight (remember, space is pretty much empty) and the chances of passing near two spatial bodies with gravitational fields strong enough to tear it apart are minimal. It would still have its own gravitational field wouldnt it?

Yeah, I was thinking that such planets were much less abundant, and I was also thinking we wouldn't have many chances to observe them, and we have only developed the means to scientifically observe stars in the past 100 years or so. So, yeah, I was thinking of a lot less starless planets, incapable of being found with current means, and in the context of infinite time (meaning low probability of ever observing a starless planet being absorbed into a star's system, or breaking apart between two gas giants or some such).

So yeah, I was speculating. I should have read the article instead of talking about my space knowledge which hasn't been updated since 2004.

Ok, thanks for clearing it up. I posted before I saw you changed your post.