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Posted on 01/18/2026 7:13:48 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Rogue planets -- worlds that drift through space alone without a star -- largely remain a mystery to scientists. Now, astronomers have for the first time confirmed the existence of one of these starless worlds by pinpointing its distance and mass -- a rogue planet roughly the size of Saturn nearly 10,000 light-years from Earth.
Planets are typically found bound to one or more stars. However, in 2000, astronomers detected the first signs of a "rogue planet" -- a free-floating world that orbited no star. Then, in 2024, researchers detected an object distorting the light from a distant star, simultaneously from both Earth and space using several ground-based observatories as well as the European Space Agency's now-retired Gaia space telescope. These observations helped scientists estimate that the object was a newfound world found about 9,950 light-years from Earth in the direction of the Milky Way's center, with a mass about 70 times larger than Earth. (Saturn, on the other hand, is about 95 Earth masses.)
...Rogue planets are difficult to spot because they do not emit enough light for the current generation of telescopes to detect. Right now, the only way to discover these wandering worlds is with the help of gravitational fields, which warp the fabric of spacetime.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
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NASA's Extrasolar Planet Tally Officially Hits The 6,000 Mark
Bruce Dorminey | Forbes | September 18, 2025
Astronomers have captured real photos of alien worlds in deep space. Here are some of the best
Iain Todd | Sky at Night | January 13, 2026
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The rest of the Rogue Planet/s keywords, sorted:
Shades of Velikovsky.
“For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky”
The more we learn from cosmologists and astronomers about the “firmament”, SC, the sheer size of it, the unimaginable distance between most galaxies, the more it appears that the farthest object that will ever be trod upon by human feet is our nearest neighbor, Luna.
Mars is going to be a one-way ticket. Nothing even vaguely healthy will ever be able to make the return trip.
I’ve been compiling a list of names to send to Mars.
Scott Adams, perpetually cranky, probably had a running list for that purpose.
Every name on it probably richly deserved to be so!
I was thinking Squire Trelayne.
originally I heard we discarded a lunar module part onto its surface in 1969 and the moon “rang like a bell”
I thought of the 1968 episode except I kept thinking
“For the Moon Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky”
People use to believe we would never even fly . The issue is money. Space development uses up a lot of capital for little return. Musk has proven it can make profits. With automation getting better every day it is only a matter of time before things manufactured off world start hitting the market back on Earth . It will dwarf the productivity of the Industrial Revolution.
Do we have spaceships travelling at speed of light? Those ships could reach this beautiful planet in 10,000 years!
Rocky Jones, Space Ranger!
The Gypsy Moon!
Musk has barely exceeded the Earth’s satellite orbit distance.
Not landed a space capsule on our Moon!
Don’t worry, Dark Star will clean it up.
A. It could be a Dyson Sphere, or:
B. “That’s no moon, it’s a space station!”
Take your pick.
CC
IT’s coming right at us!
We’re going to need a lot of fusion power to heat that planet.
And some serious wormholes to reach it
Okay JFK.
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