Apparently, a new "orphan" planet has been discovered about 100 lightyears away from Earth.

Astronomers have discovered a potential "rogue" alien planet wandering alone just 100 light-years from Earth, suggesting that such starless worlds may be extremely common across the galaxy.

The free-floating object, called CFBDSIR2149, is likely a gas giant planet four to seven times more massive than Jupiter, scientists say in a new study unveiled Wednesday. The planet cruises unbound through space relatively close to Earth (in astronomical terms), perhaps after being booted from its own solar system.

"If this little object is a planet that has been ejected from its native system, it conjures up the striking image of orphaned worlds, drifting in the emptiness of space," study leader Philippe Delorme of the Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics of Grenoble in France said in a statement.

Orphan planet, or something else?

Delorme and his team detected CFBDSIR2149's infrared signature using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, then examined the body's properties with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile. http://www.space.com/18455-rogue-planet-has-no-parent-star-video.html (video)

The newfound object appears to be among a stream of young stars called the AB Doradus moving group, the closest such stream to our own solar system.

Scientists think the AB Doradus stars all formed together between 50 million and 120 million years ago. If CFBDSIR2149 is indeed associated with the group — and researchers cite a nearly 90 percent probability — then the object is similarly young.

And if the discovery team is right about CFBDSIR2149's age, the body is likely a planet, with an average temperature of 806 degrees Fahrenheit (430 degrees Celsius), researchers said.

There's still a slight chance that CFBDSIR2149 is a brown dwarf — a strange object that's larger than a planet but too small to trigger the internal nuclear fusion reactions required to become a full-fledged star. Additional observations should help decide the matter.

"We need new observations to confirm that this object belongs to the AB Doradus moving group," Delorme told Space.com via email. "With a good distance measurement and a more accurate proper motion, we will be able to increase (or decrease) the probability that it is indeed a planet."

The new study was published today in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Billions of starless planets?
The discovery of a starless alien planet would not be shocking, at least not anymore. In the last year or so, astronomers have spotted a number of such orphan worlds — so many, in fact, that some scientists think parentless planets are the rule rather than the exception.



One 2011 study, for example, estimated that rogue worlds outnumber "normal" planets with obvious host stars by at least 50 percent throughout the Milky Way. If that's the case, the galaxy that includes Earth probably also hosts billions of orphan planets.

And gas giants may be in the minority among these solitary wanderers, researchers say.

"We now know that such massive planets are rare and that Neptunes or Earth-mass planets are much more common," Delorme said. "We also know that massive objects are more difficult to eject (from solar systems) than light ones. If you follow the rationale, you deduce that ejected exo-Neptunes and ejected exo-Earths should be much more common than objects like CFBDSIR2149."

It's exciting to have a starless planet so close to Earth, researchers say. Future telescopes should be able to learn a great deal about CFBDSIR2149, since they won't have to contend with the overwhelming glare of a nearby host star.

"This object is a really easy-to-study prototype of the 'normal' giant planets we hope to discover and study with the upcoming generation of direct-imaging instruments," Delorme said. "It will help to improve our forecast of these objects' luminosity and hence help us discover them ―and, once discovered, it will help us understand the physics of their atmospheres."


So... what are your thoughts, my fellow Dollars?

My thoughts are that the plant may have a great chance that we can find life there and possibley somewhere else in space. But who knows we just have to wait and see.

really thats so cool i wanna go ther

ITs a "brown dwarf" and a gass giant at the same time. If it DOEs have Earth-like conditions, then we're in luck. If it has Earth-like conditions, then that means alien species of flora, fauna, and civilizations.

>>4

I really doubt it gets enough sun light from our own sun to house any such life. It was stated to possibly be ejected from it's own Solar System. Thus meaning a long time ago if it had life, it's dead now. If anything the planet is a husk.

if they got booted from a solar system woodn't that mean they'd all freeze to death?

either there could be life on it or not, i dont think that we are the only living beings in the universe. probably there are so much more and the universe is just too big so that is too difficult for us to learn everythink about it. i myself want to fly to the endless darkness with its shining stars :)

>>4 Are you serious? First of all, gas giant means no land. It's literally an uninhabitable cloud of gas. Secondly, Mars is too far from the sun to sustain life, and Venus is too close. The conditions for life have to be near perfect for anything to happen. Since it's there's no star near it, it can't sustain life.

>>8 I know what you mean. I was pretty much saying "What if" in that. I don't understand the whole science behind it myself on how it can be a "brown dwarf" and yet still be a gas giant. Like I said, I have no idea, i'm not a scientist, astologist, or anything. I'm just a teenager reporting this to you people.

>>9 Stars are balls of gas. If I recall correctly, our sun is mainly hydrogen.

>>10 Ya don't say?

>>10 Ya don't say?

>>8 As someone currently taking an astronomy class thank you for beating me to the punch

But on that note, it's not technically confirmed that there is no chance of life on Mars or Venus. It's just a ridiculous long shot. They did discover water ice on Mars, after all, they just haven't had a chance to fully explore and all tests for microbial life were inconclusive - but not necessarily negative.

And they haven't even explored Venus yet, they just kind of scanned its outside and made logical assumptions about its interior based on that.

When it comes to things we are much in the dark about, I would prefer to not make any sweeping assumptions like "there is no chance of life on that planet." But I am willing to say we won't find anything as complex as intelligent life, or even non-microbial life, just because we found another planet. Especially if it's a gas giant.

Though, if someone keen on biology could explain why such a thing is more impossible than I believe it to be, we can rule out possibilities on this even further!

>>13 THANK YOU!!!!

Um, compoetely off-topic, but is there a link to this?

>>9
A "brown dwarf" is just another word scientists use to refer to gass giants, also means a gass giant that has faild to become a star.

They believe that "Europa" one of Jupiter moons may have some kind of microbiological life forms living off hydrothermal vents deep under the ice sheet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(moon)

also "Enceladus" one of Saturns moons may have something similar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enceladus_(moon)

>>5 Who says that life has to have light? The thing about life is that it really doesn't have to have conditions even close to similar to ours to exist; it only has to have conditions that don't really change much. If this object has been traveling for long enough, and the right accidents happen on whatever surface it has, life could possibly exist on it. I'll admit that it's a complete long shot, but there is a chance, nonetheless.

>>18
The major reason Scientist are looking for life on other planets, is mainly to look for one that can sustain ourselves. Thus really, if it doesn't have light, then it really is a useless rock in that sense.

>>19
Well thats partly true if there is a Earth like planet out there, it would stand a better chance of sustaining some kinds of higher froms of life and even maybe some kind intelligent life.

But what >>18 said is also true because Scientist would be happy to find any kind of life froms on other worlds even if its microbiological life froms on "Europa".

I think it is a brown dwarf but it is hard to believe that a free floating object that is as hot as it is could have life. Sadly there really is no way of finding out since it is so far away.

Why do they only search on/for planets like ours?
Gas giants and desert planets may have their ery own life forms and our astrologists may be too dense to think o that themselves. And what ever happened to terraforminqg a barren planet in to a human inhabitable planet? I thought the techies at NASA started some project along those lines?

>>22 For the terraforming, think, we're still technological slowly advancing. Progress takes time, and colonizing Mars is a step too far. The moon would be our best bet for colonization because of how close it is compared to Mars.

>>22 "Why only search for planets like ours?"
Because our planet is the only one in the entire solar system capable of sustaining life. Therefore, to find an inhabitable planet, we need to find one with qualities as similar to our own as possible.

"What happened to terraforming?"
You need an atmosphere capable of housing gasses that can sustain life while also providing a defense against solar flares, meteorites, and other solar hazards, otherwise, everything will be destroyed.