A fail star or large planet but still a loner.
A weird object nonetheless
Bizarre “rogue planet” found lurking in Earth’s galactic neighborhood
With about 13 times the mass of Jupiter and a visible aurora, this strange world opens new doors for astronomers
5
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3 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.it just about meets the definition of a brown dwarf. they are incapable of igniting a 4 proton fusion reaction and rely on deuterium to He3 for heat. since deuterium is rare, brown dwarfs radiate IR and have short lives compared to main sequence stars like sol. the intersting thing about this report is the detection of a rogue at 20 ly .. this is a microJy detection and what the James Web telescope was designed to do. as far as its origin, I would guess that it was ejected from a globular cluster as a subpart of a binary star formation. A spectrum of the object would help determining its origin since it would show its composition and relative velocity.. these would help find where it formed. the temperature vs size would give an approximate age and velocity and age gives travel distance.
JohnBeret
Level 5
Aug 9, 2018
1
20 light years away is not far. Not that we will go visit it any time soon, unless some passing aliens sell us FTL technology.
Denker
Level 7
Aug 8, 2018
2
I told myself the same thing 20 LY is very close... Also speculating if it could be our missing binary solar partner but that is wishful thinking.
How large would a planet need to be before the mass couldn't support itself?
Squirrel
Level 7
Aug 8, 2018
2
according to the article, a planet that is 13 times the mass of Jupiter and having deuterium would ignite. This fellow is just shy of that combating weight at 12.7.