Comments on: Hot Jupiters Bully Super Earths

By: Jon Voisey

Jon Voisey — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:12:31 +0000

I'm more worried about the Sun burning out and us having to restart it with some nukes!

By: bonan quao

bonan quao — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:34:29 +0000

Apparently such a planet exists and is on its way to Earth to wreak havoc upon our world in a couple of years. Didn't you guys see the movie?!!

By: Jon Voisey

Jon Voisey — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:15:27 +0000

Jon, as Ivan pointed out, tentative discoveries have been made. There should be quite a few out there, but the trick is finding them. Planets around stars are dim enough as it is, and they have a light source RIGHT THERE to reflect. One out in interstellar space would be even dimmer. So direct detection that way isn't going to happen.

The best bet of finding them is by waiting for one to pass in front of another star and then detecting the gravitational lens it creates as the background star brightens and dims in a characteristic manner. The trouble is, it's a one shot deal. Even if you see it happen, you're not going to see it pass in front of another star. So it's hard enough to find these things in the first place, but even harder to confirm them.

Long story short, we know they have to be out there (models of forming systems tell us), but detecting them is easier said than done.

By: IVAN3MAN

IVAN3MAN — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:39:04 +0000

@ Jon,One possible candidate is Cha 110913-773444, but there is no consensus among astronomers as to whether to classify the object as a sub-brown dwarf (with planets) or a rogue planet (with moons).

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:50:23 +0000

What this really suggests to me is that planets could be ejected from their parent starts in numerous scenarios and just be floating out there. Have we yet observed a parent-less "planet"? A super earth just floating around in interstellar space would be an interesting discovery to say the least.