“The Life of Floating Planets: Disappearing Worlds Among the Stars”
Researchers have discovered a number of worlds floating among the stars, revealing unsolved mysteries about their origins. In this latest research, it was discovered that there are more floating planets in the universe than we previously thought.
Dr. Richard Bate, an astrophysicist from the University of Exeter, explains, “In searching for direct images of young stars, we know that very few stars have giant planets with wide orbits. It is difficult to accept that there are many large planetary systems in Orion that are disrupted.”
Researchers suspect there are several ways to form these strange floating objects. For example, with some adjustments, theorists might find that supernova shock waves can compress small gas clouds and help them collapse into pairs of small stars more easily than expected. Wang’s simulations also show that expelling giant planets in pairs is, at least in some cases, theoretically inevitable.
While there are still many unanswered questions, the discovery of many floating worlds in the last two years has taught researchers two things. First, these worlds formed quickly – in millions of years, not billions. On Orion, gas clouds have collapsed and planets have formed, and some may have even been pulled into the abyss by passing stars, all during the time modern humans have evolved on Earth.
Sean Raymond, a researcher who developed a simulation of how a giant planet could drive its brethren into space, said, “Forming a planet in 1 million years is difficult with existing models. This discovery will add another piece to the puzzle.”
Second, there are a lot of unbound worlds out there. And heavy giant planets are the hardest to dislodge from their systems, just as bowling balls are hard to knock off a billiard table. These observations show that for every visible Jupiter, there are many floating Neptunes and Earths that are undetected.
It’s clear that we live in a galaxy full of castaway worlds of all sizes.
Now, nearly half a millennium after Galileo was dazzled by the various points of light – the moon, planets and stars – in Earth’s sky, his successors are beginning to recognize the bright edges of the dark objects floating among them. Tiny stars, starless worlds, invisible asteroids, alien comets, and more.
“We know there’s a lot of stuff between the stars,” Raymond said. This kind of research “opens a window on all that, not just floating planets but floating objects in general.”
Source: Quanta Magazine (with permission), an independent publication that aims to improve public understanding of science by covering research developments and trends in mathematics, the physical sciences, and the life sciences.
Photo: Laurence Honnorat
2023-12-31 17:41:33
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