Apparently, planets don't always orbit stars

Because sometimes nature just likes to mess with you, here's CFBDSIR2149. It's an object in space — a relatively nearby object in space, as evidenced by the fact that this is an actual picture of it — and scientists are pretty sure that it's a planet. If they're right, then CFBDSIR2149 is also a "rogue planet", so called because it doesn't actually orbit a star. Seriously. It's just hanging out in space, doing its own thing.

Also, it's not the first time a rogue planet has been identified.

In fact, these things are probably not even particularly rare. A 2011 study published in the journal Nature estimated that rogue planets might even outnumber normal stars by 2-to-1 in the Milky Way Galaxy.

It's worth noting that rogue planets do not seem to be Earth-like. For instance, CFBDSIR2149 is roughly the size of Jupiter and, with an estimated surface temperature of 850 degrees Fahrenheit, it is not exactly a pleasant place for people. As for rogue planets come from: That's a mystery. One of the things that makes CFBDSIR2149 special, according to Phil Plait, is that it's actually close enough to us that we can collect some good data on the thing.

Read Phil Plait's description of CFBDSIR2149 at the Bad Astronomy Blog

Read the research paper announcing the discovery of CFBDSIR2149

Read about rogue planets in a Science News story from last year

Image: CFHT/P. Delorme

Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

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MORE: astronomy • planets • rogue planets • Science • Space • Weird

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http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=774985558 Edmond Meinfelder

Clearly, these astronomers never watched “Space: 1999″ or they would know this.
jarmstrong

What qualifies an object as a planet if it does not orbit a star or stellar remnant? Is it just a planet because it is big and round-ish?
- http://www.youtube.com/user/Freethinkersanon Christopher
  
  I was wondering the same thing. Why is this a planet and not a brown dwarf?
  - http://www.facebook.com/postelwait Cameron Postelwait
    
    or just a giant astroid?
  - http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby
    
    The definition of a planet is a celestial body orbiting a star and being big enough to be rounded by its own gravity.
    
    If that’s the definition then these aren’t planets, by definition.
    
    I’d be more inclined to call them asteroids, but then asteroids by definition are relatively small.
    
    I think we’re making a story out of a limited vocabulary for objects in space. The title should actually be ‘Big rocks in space have no name yet’.
    
    I nominate ‘Big boy’ as the accepted terminology for these new space rocks.
    - theophrastvs
      
      …and is not pluto.
    - Nadreck
      
      Perhaps if they’re only planet-shaped they should be called planetoids!
      - http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby
        
        Apparently that’s just another name for a ‘minor planet’, defined as:
        
        “A minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun”.
        
        Dammit.
        
        [Edit: Removed madness.]
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        Are you having some kind of html-based seizure?
      - http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby
        
        Ha, email must of done a number on that one!
    - Jake0748
      
      Steroid asteroids.
  - chenille
    
    Brown dwarfs are larger. In theory they form more like stars, and become large enough to fuse deuterium though not regular hydrogen. In practice that’s hard to tell, so they use about 13 Jupiter masses as a cut-off (when you can even measure that).
    
    Right now there’s no agreed definition for planet. Contrary to what Nathan said, the IAU takes them as objects around our sun which have cleared their orbit; it doesn’t regulate exoplanets. Their definition is easy to extrapolate to other solar systems, but not free objects like this.
    
    However, right now there’s a nice range of sizes that matches up with gaseous planets, and another that matches up with terrestrial planets plus a few moons. So “rogue planet” can fairly be taken to mean objects in that range – presumably former planets that got lost? – until we know more about them.
    - Raimo Kangasniemi
      
      Also, most brown dwarfs are between 20-80 Jupiter masses (there’s only a few confirmed objects with a mass between 13-20 Jupiter masses), so this would be way below the limit if it’s 4-7 Jupiter masses.
  - Boundegar
    
    It’s not an asteroid because it’s too big. Calling Jupiter an asteroid would be silly. It’s also not a Brown Dwarf because it’s too small. A Brown Dwarf radiates infrared light caused by intense gravitational pressure, but the mass is too low to sustain fusion. For anything from about the size of Ceres to about 13 Jupiters, the only word that’s handy is planet.
- TheMudshark
  
  ”If they’re right, then CFBDSIR2149 is also a “rogue planet”, so called because it doesn’t actually orbit a star.”
theophrastvs

i’m surprised that it shows up (in that photo) as a bright object – like a star – rather than only being discovered via occultation. maybe it’s an extra shiny planet? (“well maybe if you read the whole —’n article…” yeah)
- allium
  
  The image was taken in the near-infrared frequencies, where it’s nice and glowy.
http://twitter.com/Fongoloid64 Chris

So, the Deathstar approaches?
- oasisob1
  
  &#*@)$, you all beat me to it.
- Ipo
  
  Enhance image.
- robotnik
  
  Actually, it’s Melancholia. (Get your suicide pills ready.)
John Irvine

That’s no moon…
Chuck

Now THIS is the proper way to do secession.

Close proximity to sunlight is a socialist ideal.
- petertrepan
  
  The South will rise again, rocketing straight up from the surface of the Earth in excess of 25000 mph. But we want you to understand: It’s about heritage, not height.
http://twitter.com/sqlrob Rob

Nessus seen running for his ship.
- http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith
  
  Thats really a number four general products hull, not a planet.
  - http://twitter.com/sqlrob Rob
    
    Going for the ship so he can get to the planet.
Rich Keller

This is really cool. They should rename CFBDSIR2149 Planet Mongo. And all other bodies similar to this could be called mongoids. It’s much less of a mouthful and I imagine that Dr. Hans Zarkov would approve, if he were real.
- allium
  
  Hot hail and bore worms – sounds like parts of the Southwest in August.
knappa

Anyone know why it’s so warm? Is it residual warmth from formation? Or bombardment?
- Raimo Kangasniemi
  
  From formation.
  - http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith
    
    Its moons (and it must have them) will be warmed by tidal effects…
Ito Kagehisa

It’s the Comet Empire! We need to raise the Yamato before it’s too late!
- zuben
  
  And with that, you’ve invoked one of the bright spots of my childhood.
Nadreck

Good to see that all rouge planets aren’t like Mondas!

I suspect that the surplus of star-less planets is due to the huge supply of dirigible planets left over after the last inter-galactic war. They were supposed to be sold off at duly authorised Army Surplus stores but they bring such low prices that I wouldn’t be surprised if unscrupulous operators have just been dumping them.
pupdog

850F? Maybe not so comfortable for you or me but I bet it makes an awesome steak…
- Boundegar
  
  Perhaps it’s the Meat Planet.
SamSam

I’m amazed at the surface temperature — I had assumed it would be frozen like an asteroid.

It seems to me that anything with a surface temperature like that could potentially support life — both homegrown (like our own Archaea bacteria) and potentially supporting a human population deriving power and food from heat alone (though of course a potential colony would need a lot of insulation or to be build a fair distance away to prevent us from burning up…).
- niktemadur
  
  Paraphrasing from Wikipedia:
  If in fact the planet is part of the “AB Doradus moving group”, the age of the planet will be between 50 and 120 million years.
  Which I’m guessing would explain the observed temperature: younger planet = hotter planet.
  Also, at 4-7 Jupiter masses, it’s gonna take a while for a beast of that size to shed its’ “birth heat”, to coin a term.
Jeff Kaplan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm
anansi133

I figured it was the homeworld of the wormfaces after it had been separated from its star in _Have_Space_Suit_Will_Travel_.
- Ito Kagehisa
  
  Loved that book as a boy. I had to edit it on the fly when I read it to my children, though – they didn’t grow up during the space race, so the math and chemistry stuff was boring and offtopic to them.
  
  It wasn’t as bad as Tom Swift, or Beloved Belindy, though – try reading one of those to a child of color. You have to either massively revise on the fly, or constantly stop to explain… “No, honey, Johnny Gruelle wasn’t a racist, it’s just that he was purposely invoking the ‘mammy’ stereotype to address an audience in a time when racism was commonplace and accepted. Belindy isn’t stupid, she’s… what? What does ‘invoking’ mean? Ok, uhm…..”
  - http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith
    
    My ten year old son is half way through Farmer In The Sky and this discussion has prompted me to give him Have Spacesuit Will Travel next.
- http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith
  
  Probably not. Remember that wormface travels at 1G when not in a hurry. His people keep their spacecraft at standard temperature and pressure with an earth like atmosphere. They would be completely at home on earth, not on a super-jovian gas giant.
  
  But crossing the streams for a moment, John Varley’s Invaders were a gas giant species with a fetish for dolphins…
gd23

Pure computronium? larval Reaper?
Guest

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh are from an far-out, overheated planet where the sun never shines.