Far-out worlds, just waiting to be found

New Scientist ^ | 23 July 2005 (issue date) | Stuart Clark

[SunkenCiv]

IN THE dark reaches of the solar system lurk swarms of hidden worlds. Too small and too distant to reflect sunlight, they have remained under the cover of darkness for billions of years. But now the outer solar system is giving up its secrets. And with them comes an astonishing claim: "It's quite possible that there is a halo of planets surrounding our solar system, just waiting to be found," says Eugene Chiang, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley.

What makes Chiang's claim so surprising is the sheer number and size of these planets. Weighing more than Mars, they dwarf Sedna and Quaoar, the largest rocky bodies spotted circling the sun beyond Pluto.

[SunkenCiv]

Far enough away is actually the way I prefer planets, but que sera, sera.

• Lonely Rogue Worlds Surprisingly Outnumber Planets with Suns
• 'Free-floating' planets found with no star in sight
• So Many Lonely Planets with No Star to Guide Them

and from the FRchives:

• First Alien Planet From Another Galaxy Discovered
• Rogue Planet Find Makes Astronomers Ponder Theory
• Planet Found With Comet-like Tail
• Scorched Alien Planet Has a Comet Tail (153 light-years from Earth)
• Cosmic Bullet Fired by Exploding Star
• Spitzer Sees the Aftermath of a Planetary Collision
• 'Jupiter swallowed planet 10 times the size of Earth'
• Comet-like tail discovered trailing planet Mercury
• Will Mercury Hit Earth Someday?
• Venus' Tail of the Unexpected
• Moon has liquid core just like Earth...reveal sensors left on surface by astronauts 40 YEARS ago