Read the Beforeitsnews.com story here. Advertise at Before It's News here.

By Anne's Astronomy News
Contributor profile | More stories

Story Views
Now:
Last hour:
Last 24 hours:
Total:

Free-Floating Planets May be Born Free

Tuesday, August 20, 2013 10:11

% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.

read more at Anne’s Astronomy News http://annesastronomynews.com/

Tiny, round, cold clouds in space have all the right characteristics to form planets with no parent star. New observations, made with Chalmers University of Technology telescopes, show that not all free-floating planets were thrown out of existing planetary systems. They can also be born free.

A part of the Rosette Nebula, a huge cloud of gas and dust 4600 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Monoceros. It is home to more than a hundred tiny dark clouds known as globulettes. Many of them will collapse under their own weight and form free-floating planets. The inset shows the spectrum of one of the globulettes. Image Credit: ESO/M. Mäkelä

Previous research has shown that there may be as many as 200 billion free-floating planets in our galaxy, the Milky Way. Until now scientists have believed that such “rogue planets”, which don’t orbit around a star, must have been ejected from existing planetary systems.

New observations of tiny dark clouds in space point out another possibility: that some free-floating planets formed on their own.

A team of astronomers from Sweden and Finland used several telescopes to observe the Rosette Nebula, a huge cloud of gas and dust 4600 light years from Earth in the constellation Monoceros (the Unicorn). They collected observations in radio waves with the 20-metre telescope at Onsala Space Observatory in Sweden, in submillimetre waves with APEX in Chile, and in infrared light with the New Technology Telescope (NTT) at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile.

”The Rosette Nebula is home to more than a hundred of these tiny clouds – we call them globulettes”, says Gösta Gahm, astronomer at Stockholm University, who led the project.

Astronomers have found that tiny, round, dark clouds called globulettes have the right characteristics to form free-floating planets. The graph shows the spectrum of one of the globulettes taken at the 20-metre telescope at Onsala Space Observatory. Radio waves from molecules of carbon monoxide (13CO) give information on the mass and structure of these clouds. Image Credit: ESO/M. Mäkelä

“They are very small, each with diameter less than 50 times the distance between the Sun and Neptune. Previously we were able to estimate that most of them are of planetary mass, less than 13 times Jupiter’s mass. Now we have much more reliable measures of mass and density for a large number of these objects, and we have also precisely measured how fast they are moving relative to their environment”, he says.

“We found that the globulettes are very dense and compact, and many of them have very dense cores. That tells us that many of them will collapse under their own weight and form free-floating planets. The most massive of them can form so-called brown dwarfs”, says team member Carina Persson, astronomer at Chalmers University of Technology. (Brown dwarfs, sometimes called failed stars, are bodies whose mass lies between that of planets and stars.)

The study shows that the tiny clouds are moving outwards through the Rosette Nebula at high speed, about 80,000 kilometers per hour.

”We think that these small, round clouds have broken off from tall, dusty pillars of gas which were sculpted by the intense radiation from young stars. They have been accelerated out from the center of the nebula thanks to pressure from radiation from the hot stars in its center”, explains Minja Mäkelä, astronomer at the University of Helsinki.

The Onsala Space Observatory is Sweden’s national facility for radio astronomy. The observatory provides researchers with equipment for the study of the earth and the rest of the universe. In Onsala, 45 km south of Gothenburg, it operates two radio telescopes and a station in the international telescope Lofar. It also participates in several international projects. The observatory is hosted by Department of Earth and Space Sciences at Chalmers University of Technology, and is operated on behalf of the Swedish Research Council. Image Credit: Chalmers University of Technology

According to Gösta Gahm and his team, the tiny dark clouds are being thrown out of the Rosette Nebula. During the history of the Milky Way, countless millions of nebulae like the Rosette have bloomed and faded away. In all of these, many globulettes would have formed.

“If these tiny, round clouds form planets and brown dwarfs, they must be shot out like bullets into the depths of the Milky Way”, says Gösta Gahm. “There are so many of them that they could be a significant source of the free-floating planets that have been discovered in recent years”, he says.

More about exoplanets and free-floating planets

Astronomers know of almost 900 planets which orbit around other stars than the Sun, but free-floating planets have also been found. Some have been discovered using a technique called microlensing, in which the planet is found when it passes in front of a background star, temporarily making it look brighter. This is an effect predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity, in which the light from the star is bent when the planet passes in front of it, a so-called gravitational lens. Scientists have estimated that the number of free-floating planets in our galaxy may exceed 200 billion.

The study has been published in the article Mass and motion of globulettes in the Rosette Nebula in the July issue of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. The team consists of Gösta Gahm (Stockholm University, Sweden), Carina M. Persson (Onsala Space Observatory at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden), Minja M. Mäkelä (Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Finland) and Lauri K. Haikala (Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO [FINCA], University of Turku, Finland).

Source: Chalmers University of Technology

n/a

Source: http://annesastronomynews.com/free-floating-planets-may-be-born-free/

Before It’s News® is a community of individuals who report on what’s going on around them, from all around the world.

Anyone can join.
Anyone can contribute.
Anyone can become informed about their world.

"United We Stand" Click Here To Create Your Personal Citizen Journalist Account Today, Be Sure To Invite Your Friends.

Before It’s News® is a community of individuals who report on what’s going on around them, from all around the world. Anyone can join. Anyone can contribute. Anyone can become informed about their world. "United We Stand" Click Here To Create Your Personal Citizen Journalist Account Today, Be Sure To Invite Your Friends.

LION'S MANE PRODUCT

Try Our Lion’s Mane WHOLE MIND Nootropic Blend 60 Capsules

Mushrooms are having a moment. One fabulous fungus in particular, lion’s mane, may help improve memory, depression and anxiety symptoms. They are also an excellent source of nutrients that show promise as a therapy for dementia, and other neurodegenerative diseases. If you’re living with anxiety or depression, you may be curious about all the therapy options out there — including the natural ones.Our Lion’s Mane WHOLE MIND Nootropic Blend has been formulated to utilize the potency of Lion’s mane but also include the benefits of four other Highly Beneficial Mushrooms. Synergistically, they work together to Build your health through improving cognitive function and immunity regardless of your age. Our Nootropic not only improves your Cognitive Function and Activates your Immune System, but it benefits growth of Essential Gut Flora, further enhancing your Vitality.

Our Formula includes: Lion’s Mane Mushrooms which Increase Brain Power through nerve growth, lessen anxiety, reduce depression, and improve concentration. Its an excellent adaptogen, promotes sleep and improves immunity. Shiitake Mushrooms which Fight cancer cells and infectious disease, boost the immune system, promotes brain function, and serves as a source of B vitamins. Maitake Mushrooms which regulate blood sugar levels of diabetics, reduce hypertension and boosts the immune system. Reishi Mushrooms which Fight inflammation, liver disease, fatigue, tumor growth and cancer. They Improve skin disorders and soothes digestive problems, stomach ulcers and leaky gut syndrome. Chaga Mushrooms which have anti-aging effects, boost immune function, improve stamina and athletic performance, even act as a natural aphrodisiac, fighting diabetes and improving liver function. Try Our Lion’s Mane WHOLE MIND Nootropic Blend 60 Capsules Today. Be 100% Satisfied or Receive a Full Money Back Guarantee. Order Yours Today by Following This Link.

Comments

Visits:	1,708,935,241
Stories:	8,451,597