Rogue Planet Spotted? Massive Nearby Celestial Object Baffles Astronomers (+Videos)

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope have identified a body that is very probably a planet wandering through space without a parent star. 

This is the most exciting free-floating planet candidate so far and the closest such object to the Solar System at a distance of about 100 light-years. 

An international team of astronomers has recently investigated a mysterious object designated CFBDSIR 2149-0403 in order to reveal its true nature. The object is assumed to be a young isolated planetary-mass object or a high-metallicity low-mass brown dwarf. 

CFBDSIR 2149-0403 was detected in 2012 as a possible member of the AB Doradus moving group. After its discovery, it was classified by the researchers as a unique T-type isolated planetary-mass candidate. However, due to the lack of convincing evidence supporting the hypothesis that CFBDSIR 2149-0403 formed as a planet and was subsequently ejected, the scientific community does not exclude the possibility that it could be a low-mass brown dwarf.

Phys.org
Read more here: https://phys.org/news/2017-03-mysterious-isolated-astronomers.html

ESO – Lost in Space: Rogue Planet Spotted?
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1245/

https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.00843

Clips, images credit: ESO/L. Calçada/P. Delorme/R. Saito/VVV Consortium , ESA/HUBBLE