There may be twice as many free floating planets as there are stars

[Deliguy]

This is pretty cool. They have been predicting orphan planets (planets that don't have a parent star) for a long time, but they're on the verge of actually detecting them. Come to find out there may be more out there then we think. Infact, there may be as much as twice as many free floating planets as there are stars in the universe.

NASA - Free-Floating Planets May Be More Common Than Stars

The discovery is based on a joint Japan-New Zealand survey that scanned the center of the Milky Way galaxy during 2006 and 2007, revealing evidence for up to 10 free-floating planets roughly the mass of Jupiter. The isolated orbs, also known as orphan planets, are difficult to spot, and had gone undetected until now. The newfound planets are located at an average approximate distance of 10,000 to 20,000 light-years from Earth.
"Although free-floating planets have been predicted, they finally have been detected, holding major implications for planetary formation and evolution models," said Mario Perez, exoplanet program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
The discovery indicates there are many more free-floating Jupiter-mass planets that can't be seen. The team estimates there are about twice as many of them as stars. In addition, these worlds are thought to be at least as common as planets that orbit stars. This would add up to hundreds of billions of lone planets in our Milky Way galaxy alone.

 

[Armakuni]

Cool. One wonders what kind of lifeforms would evolve on planets without a star. They sure can't need much energy or visible light.

 

[Napolean]

Cool. One wonders what kind of lifeforms would evolve on planets without a star. They sure can't need much energy or visible light.

Probably none. Life typically needs some kind of energy that comes from stars, or from planets in the case of life on moons.

If any at all, it would have to be some kind of extremophile, and microbial.

 

[Armakuni]

Probably none. Life typically needs some kind of energy that comes from stars, or from planets in the case of life on moons.

If any at all, it would have to be some kind of extremophile, and microbial.

Yes, that's would seem to be the implication. Let's not forget that the only life forms we know about are terrestrial, and even among those there are many that thrive in environments where conventional wisdom says nothing can live. Who's to say it's impossible for certain microbes to live on energy from interstellar radiation? Or from the gravity of the planet itself? Or from any tectonic activity?
Makes for an interesting conversation over a bottle of cognac, anyway.

 

[Calamity]

Astronomy is really fucking cool but its a shame its so overlooked by the general public. I started talking with some girl in a bar about something related to astronomy, and after about 5 minutes she asks me if the sun is a star....

 

[jacky8]

If I'm not wrong, Nibiru the planet which is predicted by doomsday theorists to hit Earth (or pass near to the earth) in December 2012 is also a free floating planet.

What's more interesting is that much more advanced civilizations than ours might have a mechanism to control the path of free floating planets. (Source: Dr. Michio Kaku, Japan)

 

[mattseh]

If I'm not wrong, Nibiru the planet which is predicted by doomsday theorists to hit Earth (or pass near to the earth) in December 2012 is also a free floating planet.

What's more interesting is that much more advanced civilizations than ours might have a mechanism to control the path of free floating planets. (Source: Dr. Michio Kaku, Japan)

I believe it's actually supposed to be a planet in a highly elliptical orbit. Of course no credible evidence whatsoever has been presented for it

 

[MSTeacher]

If I'm not wrong, Nibiru the planet which is predicted by doomsday theorists to hit Earth (or pass near to the earth) in December 2012 is also a free floating planet.

What's more interesting is that much more advanced civilizations than ours might have a mechanism to control the path of free floating planets. (Source: Dr. Michio Kaku, Japan)

according to some people yeah it is. according to others it won't pass near earth as much as it will pass relatively near other astral bodies and screw up the gravitational/inertial equilibrium. And according to others it was a planet that was in our star system and was destroyed by something or someone.

I believe it's actually supposed to be a planet in a highly elliptical orbit. Of course no credible evidence whatsoever has been presented for it

Depends on what you consider credible. If you're waiting for nasa or caltech to tell you anything credible about controversial astronomy i wouldn't hold your breath.

 

[NetMillion]

what happens when you reach the edge of the universe? is there a wall that blocks you?

 

[r3p1v]

 

[MyOwnDemon]

^ lol

Nice post, Eli. Love this kind of stuff!

 

[JTP50]

If I'm not wrong, Nibiru the planet which is predicted by doomsday theorists to hit Earth (or pass near to the earth) in December 2012 is also a free floating planet.

What's more interesting is that much more advanced civilizations than ours might have a mechanism to control the path of free floating planets. (Source: Dr. Michio Kaku, Japan)

Just read on a website people claiming that Nibiru was a starship in the shape of a planet with thousands of inhabitants..... tasked to maintain the inter planetary balance around here......

 

[MSTeacher]

LOL ah fuck that's funny +rep

 

[DocApocalypto]

Astronomy is really fucking cool but its a shame its so overlooked by the general public. I started talking with some girl in a bar about something related to astronomy, and after about 5 minutes she asks me if the sun is a star....

LOL. The other day I told a girl I was an internet entrepreneur and she laughed and said "what is an internet thingamajig"?

its not just astronomy these braindead poptards know nothing about.

i guess their ignorance just makes it easier for guys like us to make it rain.

 

[Napolean]

what happens when you reach the edge of the universe? is there a wall that blocks you?

How would we know where the edge of the universe is? If there even is one?

We can only see as far as (age of our planet x light years, or age of other star x light years).

If another star or galaxies distance is greater in light years than it is in its age, then the light from that star or galaxy has not reached our planet yet. If the light hasn't arrived yet, then we cannot see it.

It's like a new house is built, but is unaware if there is a mail route yet. Since the mail man has never came to the house, for all they know, the mail man doesn't come. The mail comes every 24 hours, but until that house is 24 hours old, it won't see the mail man.

Or like a p2p network. You don't know of a clients existence until it pings you. Once it pings you, it continues to ping at an interval so you know its there. If the client is enough hubs away, it will take some time before your system knows of that client. But in the meantime, just because you haven't received it's ping, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

At least I think that's how it works. I could be wrong.

 

[Crazydayz]

I've got my own theory about Nibiru:

 

[BradleyT2p2]

Each "point" in the universe has its own observable universe.

Observable universe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[danke]

The real question is, how is this going to afford me my next Lambo? Oh it isn't? Xing out page...

 

[Armakuni]

The real question is, how is this going to afford me my next Lambo? Oh it isn't? Xing out page...

Free-floating planet insurance? I'm sure you could make it work.

As it happens, there's some very expensive equipment in astronomy. Amateur astronomers buy telescopes and optics for huge amounts, making golfers seem sane by comparison. It's a nice market to tap into.
Not to mention institutional buyers. Lots of universities around the globe have some nice setups, much of it American.

 

[lukep]

^STOP OUTTING, BRO!

(On both the astronomy stuff and the FF Planet insurance...)