DaveH
Striker
I literally just read that and thought it was worth sharing. It really is a fantastic bit of kit they have built.
James Webb telescope makes 'JuMBO' discovery of planet-like objects in Orion
The new space observatory sees pairs of Jupiter-sized objects floating free between the stars.www.bbc.co.uk
Free floating planets are an increasing area of study, with the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope set to be launched in 2027. That will look for free floating earth type objects.
The theory is that as planets form, in the early days of a solar system you have a lot of gravitational imbalance between these new planets, and general chaos. They believe in our solar system that it cause some planets to move inwards and some outwards, while basically gravity found a balance and settle on their current positions. When they have done simulations of this, in some circumstances planets can end up being thrown completely out of orbit and out of the range of gravity from the parent star. It is even more common in simulations of binary star systems. These free floating planet just continue on a path out in to space and will naturally become very very cold. It is amazing they have detected and actually imaged some.
These planets are slow moving and because the space between stars is so massive, the chances of one coming into close contact with another star are billions to one. But if say something the mass of Jupiter was to enter our solar system on a course towards the inner planets, it would throw the gravitational balance in chaos, almost certainly shift the earth in it's orbit and wipe out all life on earth. The odds are against it and we would see one with plenty of warning, but a cheery thought that it is just another way for all life on earth to be wiped out.
