Astronomers have for the first time found a rogue planet that appears to be wandering through space on its own, unattached to any star.
The free-floating body, known as CFBDSIR2149, was discovered by astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope.
"Although theorists had established the existence of this type of very cold and young planet, one had never been observed until today," says Étienne Artigau, an astrophysicist at University of Montreal (UdeM).
Similar objects have been sighted before, but have never been confirmed, as astronomers have not been able to put an age to them. Astronomers use the object’s age to determine if they are really planets rather than brown dwarfs – ‘failed’ stars that resemble planets. The sighting also raises the tantalising possibility that such worlds could be more common than we think, maybe even as numerous as normal stars.
http://www.tgdaily.com/space-features/67486-homeless-planet-discovered-wandering-through-space
