Rogue giants found

Talk E

http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/5036342/Rogue-giants-found


A discovery of orphan planets has been made through software developed by a Massey University computer scientist and astrophysicist.
Dr Ian Bond, based at the Institute of Information and Mathematical Sciences, led a team of researchers to discover ten Jupiter-sized free floating planets.
The study, Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics, involved researchers from Massey, Canterbury and Victoria Universities, as well as international researchers.
He said the discovery had major implications for understanding the dynamics of solar systems.
"It's a big deal. It's like finding a needle in a haystack, the sense of discovery is hugely exciting."
Researchers analysed data from telescopic camera recordings by a telescope at Mount John University observatory at Lake Tekapo. It captured variations in the brightness of some 50 million stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
The discovered planets were free-floating gas giant planets, also described as orphan or rogue planets, that were not believed to be orbiting stars.
The discovery had led to speculation that smaller planets, the size of Earth, may exist but were yet to be found and that Earth could have a long-lost sibling which was once part of our solar system.
Dr Bond was the principal investigator for the Auckland University-backed study.
The study hoped to find more smaller orphan planets closer to the size of Earth in the future.