When a mass passes through the line-of-sight to a distant light source, it bends, magnifies, and … [+]
Jan Skowron / Astronomical Observatory, University of Warsaw
For countless millennia, planets beyond our Solar System were mere speculation.
Today, we know of over 4,000 confirmed exoplanets, with more than 2,500 of those found in the Kepler … [+]
NASA/Ames Research Center/Jessie Dotson and Wendy Stenzel; missing Earth-like worlds by E. Siegel
Only since the 1990s has science revealed their existence.
The radial velocity (or stellar wobble) method for finding exoplanets relies on measuring the motion … [+]
ESO
Today, more than 4,000 exoplanets are known, revealed from their effects on the stars they orbit.
When planets pass in front of their parent star, they block a portion of the star’s light: a transit … [+]
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/SVS/Katrina Jackson
But plenty of planets should have no parent stars at all.
Perhaps surprisingly, these rogue planets should be extraordinarily common.
Particular configurations over time, or singular gravitational interactions with passing large … [+]
SHANTANU BASU, EDUARD I. VOROBYOV, AND ALEXANDER L. DESOUZA; arXiv:1208.3713
Many young planets get ejected as solar systems form, creating “orphaned” planets.
Although we now believe we understand how the Sun and our solar system formed, this early view is an … [+]
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY/SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE (JHUAPL/SWRI)
Others formed as members of insufficiently massive, failed solar systems.
This star-forming region is rich in ionizing radiation, which is blowing off the remaining gas … [+]
ESA and NASA
Altogether, rogue planets should outnumber the stars in our Milky Way.
The candidate rogue planet CFBDSIR2149, as imaged in the infrared, is a gas giant world that emits … [+]
ESO/P. DELORME
Direct infrared imaging only reveals high-mass rogue planets.
Rogue planets may be numerous in the galaxy, but it surprises most to learn that there are between … [+]
NASA / JPL-CALTECH
But another method — gravitational microlensing — has begun to change everything.
Any planet passing between us and a star will gravitationally bend the intervening space.
When any mass or system of masses, whether a star, planet, solar system, or something more complex … [+]
NASA’s Exoplanet Science Institute / JPL-Caltech / IPAC
This magnifies, distorts, and creates multiple images of the background star.
When a gravitational microlensing event occurs, the background light from a star gets distorted and … [+]
Jan Skowron / Astronomical Observatory, University of Warsaw
From physics, we can then infer the rogue planet’s properties.
Rogue planets may have a variety of exotic origins, such as arising from shredded stars or other … [+]
CHRISTINE PULLIAM / DAVID AGUILAR / CFA
In September, the first Earth-sized rogue planet was discovered this way.
Light curve of the ultrashort microlensing event OGLE-2016-BLG-1928, which was likely caused by a … [+]
Mroz et al. 2020, arXiv:2003.01126
Fast imaging is a necessity: the entire event lasted just 42 minutes.
From the beginning of the event, which includes the brightening of the background star, the … [+]
Jan Skowron / Astronomical Observatory, University of Warsaw
NASA’s Nancy Roman Telescope, launching in the mid-2020s, will conduct a space-based microlensing survey.
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will make its microlensing observations in the direction of … [+]
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab
By 2030, we’ll discover thousands of microlensed planets.
Multiple observatories can work in tandem to identify rogue planets, orbiting exoplanets, and even … [+]
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
These otherwise invisible cosmic vagabonds cannot hide from gravity’s inescapable effects.
Gravitational microlensing is a powerful tool for detecting exoplanets. This illustration shows the … [+]
NASA Exoplanet Exploration
Mostly Mute Monday tells an astronomical story in images, visuals, and no more than 200 words. Talk less; smile more.
