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I had no idea that: "Or maybe it got ejected — astronomers are finding emigrant planets, lonely orbs that wander the universe with no star, just drifting. Mayb
by unreal37 14y ago
I had no idea that:
"Or maybe it got ejected — astronomers are finding emigrant planets, lonely orbs that wander the universe with no star, just drifting. Maybe one of those used to live here."
There are planets not orbiting stars? I searched Google for "emigrant planets" and the npr article is the number 1 result for that. I think he invented the term. What are these called if I wanted to find more information about them?
- simonh 14y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_planet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_planet
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- johngalt 14y agoThey are more commonly called rouge planets. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_planet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_planet
- MartinCron 14y agoI always thought Mars was the rouge planet.
- rbanffy 14y agoI bet johngalt's spell czech is on. ;-)
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- pavel_lishin 14y agoOther terms are "orphan planets" and "rogue planets". Naturally, since they don't orbit a star and are usually pretty dark, they're hard to find, though there are candidates: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/49823152/ns/technology_and_science-space/#.UKQa4IZNga8 http://www.nbcnews.com/id/49823152/ns/technology_and_science... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_planet#Known_or_possible_rogue_planets http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_planet#Known_or_possible_... One could argue that these are proto-stars, or brown dwarves, I guess - but to me, no fusion == planet. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_planet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_planet
- lovehashbrowns 14y agoIt is interesting that, theoretically speaking, a rogue planet can maintain an environment conductive to life: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/steppenwolf-planet/ http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/steppenwolf-planet... It probably wouldn't be intelligent life, but maybe there are microbial lifeforms somewhere in the universe which call a rogue planet their home. That's awesome to think about, although it is extremely likely that such a planet will never be discovered. It's just really hard to track down a rogue planet, even a large one.
- bitwize 14y agoHoly smokes, Sha Ka Ree.
- mratzloff 14y agoReminds me of the setting for "Thundarr the Barbarian". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhAobPugvsk#t=3s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhAobPugvsk#t=3s The year: 1994. From out of space comes a runaway planet hurtling between the Earth and the moon, unleashing cosmic destruction! I always thought that intro was ridiculous until they discovered that runaway planets actually do exist and they are in fact hurtling through space...