A wandering planet weighing as much as 10 Earths has been discovered

NASA’s TESS mission will once again expand our cosmic horizons. The US Space Agency’s Exoplanet Hunters have identified the first ‘floating’ or wandering planet. This object, which is more massive than Earth, was discovered thanks to careful analysis of 1.3 million light curves collected over many years by orbiting space observatories. A world that is not connected to any planet Wandering planets, also known as wandering planets or floating planets, are fascinating celestial bodies. Unlike regular planets that orbit around stars, these solitary worlds actually wander through interstellar space without being gravitationally bound to any particular star. The existence of these mysterious objects challenges conventional expectations about our understanding of planetary systems. Therefore, their existence raises many questions about their origin, history and role in cosmodynamics. Through their research, astronomers can therefore push the limits of our understanding of the universe and open new perspectives on the diversity of worlds that exist in our galaxy. The problem is that these cold, inconspicuous planets are very difficult for astronomers to spot because they often blend into the sky and reflect no light. However, an innovative technology called microlensing provides valuable insight into these mysterious space objects.

What is microlensing? In particular, when a wandering planet passes in front of a background star, its gravity acts like a lens, slightly magnifying the star’s light. By studying this phenomenon, researchers can not only determine the presence of intermediate objects, but also estimate their mass. In this case, the planet’s background star, named TIC-107150013, is more than 10,400 light-years from Earth, and the microlensing event would have lasted 107 minutes. Thanks to this observation, scientists were able to estimate the mass of the planet with a certain margin of error. Specifically, if the distance is less than 8,500 light-years, Earth’s mass will be just under 10 times that of Earth, and if the distance is less than 3,200 light-years, it will have the same mass as Earth. The accuracy of these estimates depends on improvements in measurement technology and the ability to more accurately determine the distance of a moving planet from Earth. But the discovery, led by MIT’s Michelle Kunimoto and UC Santa Cruz’s William DeRocco, shows the potential of TESS to study a variety of planetary masses not normally visible with other instruments. ing. Other observatories under construction could also play an important role in studying and characterizing these wandering planets. For example, the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope, scheduled to launch in the next few years, will be equipped with specialized instruments to explore planets using gravitational microlenses. A more complete picture of the populations of these objects will help astronomers better understand their formation, evolution, and influence on the dynamics of planetary systems. Details of the study will be published on the preprint site ArXiv.

source: https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.11666