Posted on 11/10/2017 11:11:30 PM PST by ETL
In the hostile environment of the ‘galactic bulge’ at the heart of our galaxy, scientists have spotted a planet so big it might not actually be a planet.
A large international team of researchers found the object when looking at data acquired by NASA’s Spitzer infra-red space telescope, which was first launched in 2003.
Using a technique called micro-lensing, which measures distortions in light when a star passes in front of another, scientists were able to discover the mysterious object is 22,000 light years away from Earth, and orbits its parent star roughly every three years.
Dubbed OGLE-2016-BLG-1190Lb, the object is thought to be 13 times the size [diameter] of Jupiter, which is more than 11 times the diameter of Earth. ..."
The massive size of the object has left scientists unsure if it is a humongous planet or a failed star.
“The planet’s mass places it right at the deuterium burning limit, ie, the conventional boundary between ‘planets’ and ‘brown dwarfs’,” the report reads.
The mass of a brown dwarf can range between 13 to 90 times the mass of Jupiter, meaning they are not massive enough to sustain the nuclear fusion which makes stars burn. ..."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Astro ping...
“the mysterious object is 22,000 light years away from Earth”
FYI: ONE light-year, the *distance* light travels in a year, at its fixed speed of 186,000 miles per second, works out to about 5.9 TRILLION miles.
Almost the distance between Hillary supporters and reality.
John “Dirt Nap” McCain’s ego.
One and the same, by definition.
Oh thank goodness, I can breathe a sigh of relief. I thought it was on a collision course with earth. 👍😂❄️
They find exoplanets and brown dwarfs all the time. This one just happens to be near the mass which differentiates them from one another. Nothing really mysterious about it.
‘Tiny brown dwarfs’ for a $1000 Alex...
Yep! Guess that means our national debt is about 45,000 light years over our collective heads...
Just proves that some parts of the galaxy have bigger balls than others...
Just proves that some parts of the galaxy have bigger balls than others...
Just proves that some parts of the galaxy have bigger balls than others...
_____________________________-
Just another reminder how grand God’s creation is and how little we really know about it.
The MOTHER SHIP Is real.
” at the heart of our galaxy, scientists have spotted a planet so big it might not actually be a planet.”
Okayyy...how much more will it cost to determine whether it’s a planet or not?
“...scientists unsure if it is a humongous planet or a failed star”
Klingon Battle Ship...
Exactly. And there wouldn't be anything particularly strange or unusual about it orbiting a star, as most stars are binary and orbit around another star, or, more precisely, both orbit a common center of mass. And surely it is the case that many of these systems involve a star and a brown dwarf, which, as you and the article states, is simply an object which didn't have quite enough mass to ignite and become a star itself. ie, a "failed star".
In any case, the article contains lots of good general info on the topic which serves to educate interested and curious folks who may not have known these things previously.
The fact that most of the exo-planets that have been discovered, via the far more common "star wobble" method, are these humongous giants several times the mass of our Jupiter, is not at all surprising either, since, being so massive they are the ones that would have the most noticeable gravitational effect on their host star and be detected (would tug on the host star more).
Same goes for the eclipsing binary method as well, where one large object, usually another star, moves in front of another causing that star to dim periodically. With either of these methods a planet anywhere near earth-sized would be very difficult if not impossible to detect, at least at this point with the current level of technology.
Thanks ETL. I'm not going to look through the comments for Uranus jokes, but I'm sure they're there. ;^)
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Unless and until traveling faster than the speed of light is found to be possible, along with the ability for humans to survive such travel, observations of all such objects will be only by human telescopes, and communications will be so impractical as to be useless (why wait 44,000 years for a reply your civilization may not even been around to receive?).
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