Two More Mysterious Rogue Planets Found

From Popular Mechanics

Rogue planets wander through space without orbiting a star, and now scientists have found two more of these free-floating worlds.

For centuries, the very existence of rogue planets was hypothetical. Because they're not so good, they're terribly difficult to spot. Then known as gravitational microlensing came around.

Using gravitational microlensing, planetary scientists by noting when a rogue planet interrupts a star's light from our point of view. The planet suddenly acts as a lens for the star's light, curving it would be seen from Earth. The bigger planet, the bigger the interruption.

It's not the most efficient system. Some astronomers (like Neil DeGrasse Tyson) estimate there are billions of rogue planets within the Milky Way. But do you think it's important to find out about it? Exoplanets attached to stars, scientists have only identified a dozen or so rogues. That's what makes adding such a big deal.

The planets are officially called OGLE-2017-BLG-0560 and OGLE-2012-BLG-1323, respectively, and there's a lot we do not know about them. Their names have been discovered at the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. The first one could be anywhere from the size of Jupiter to the size of Jupiters, while the latter is between the size of Earth and Neptune. Nothing is known about how far they are from the solar system.

Scientists are hoping that the Transiting Exoplanet Satellite Survey, launched April 16, will give an exoplanet and rogue planet hunters a new advantage in learning more about the mysterious bodies.

Source: Motherboard

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