Our galaxy may be teeming with rogue planets, gravitationally unbound to any star. An international team of scientists, led by Polish astronomers, has announced the discovery of the smallest Earth-sized free-floating planet found to date.
Over 4,000
extrasolar planets have been discovered to date. Although many of the known exoplanets do not resemble those in our solar system, they have one thing in common—they all orbit a star. However, theories of planet formation and evolution predict the existence of free-floating (rogue) planets, gravitationally unattached to any star. Indeed, a few years ago, Polish astronomers from the OGLE team from the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Warsaw provided the first evidence for the existence of such planets in the Milky Way. Writing in
Astrophysical Journal Letters, OGLE astronomers announced the discovery of the smallest rogue planet found to date.
