| An upcoming NASA mission could find that there are more rogue planets – planets that float in space without orbiting a sun – than there are stars in the Milky Way, a new study theorizes. | |
| “This gives us a window into these worlds that we would otherwise not have,” said Samson Johnson, an astronomy graduate student at The Ohio State University and lead author of the study. “Imagine our little rocky planet just floating freely in space – that’s what this mission will help us find.” | |
| The study was published in The Astronomical Journal (“Predictions of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Galactic Exoplanet Survey. II. Free-floating Planet Detection Rates”). |
| The study calculated that NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could find hundreds of rogue planets in the Milky Way. Identifying those planets, Johnson said, will help scientists infer the total number of rogue planets in our galaxy. Rogue, or free-floating, planets are isolated objects that have masses similar to that of planets. The origin of such objects is unknown, but one possibility is they were previously bound to a host star. | |
| “The universe could be teeming with rogue planets and we wouldn’t even know it,” said Scott Gaudi, a professor of astronomy and distinguished university scholar at Ohio State and a co-author of the paper. “We would never find out without undertaking a thorough, space-based microlensing survey like Roman is going to do.” | |
| The Roman telescope, named for NASA’s first chief astronomer who was also known as the “mother” of the Hubble telescope, will attempt to build the first census of rogue planets, which could, Johnson said, help scientists understand how those planets form. Roman will also have other objectives, including searching for planets that do orbit stars in our galaxy. | |
| That process is not well-understood, though astronomers know that it is messy. Rogue planets could form in the gaseous disks around young stars, similar to those planets still bound to their host stars. After formation, they could later be ejected through interactions with other planets in the system, or even fly-by events by other stars. | |
| Or they could form when dust and gas swirl together, similar to the way stars form. |
Image Credit: NASA
News This Week
Coronavirus: found to be heat tolerant, self-healing and very resilient in lab tests
A research team in Hungary pinched the coronavirus with a fine needle to measure how much force it could take before popping like a balloon. It did not. The native virion of Sars-CoV-2 – a [...]
Headaches and delirium: coronavirus can invade brain, study says
Headaches, confusion and delirium experienced by some Covid-19 patients could be the result of the coronavirus directly invading the brain, according to a study published Wednesday. The research is still preliminary – but offers several [...]
Coronavirus Pandemic: Guidance for Better Mental Health
By Boris M | Published in Coronavirus During the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be a lot of information about the virus and its effects on mental health. That’s because coronavirus and the social, financial and psychological [...]
The coronavirus is mutating — does it matter?
When COVID-19 spread around the globe this year, David Montefiori wondered how the deadly virus behind the pandemic might be changing as it passed from person to person. Montefiori is a virologist who has spent [...]
Expert: Bad reaction to Oxford COVID-19 vaccine likely ‘life-threatening’
A serious illness suffered by an Oxford University coronavirus vaccine trial participant was most likely “life-threatening”, a bioethics researcher says. But that doesn’t mean the clinical trials will be scrapped. AstraZeneca and Oxford University [...]
COVID-19: Who should get a vaccine first?
There are currently a number of potential coronavirus vaccines being researched. But once a successful one has been developed, it is likely to be in short supply. So how do we decide who to allocate the [...]
Two types of steroid found to save lives of some Covid-19 patients
Analysis of seven trials finds dexamethasone and hydrocortisone should be given in severe cases. Studies around the world have confirmed that steroids can save lives in the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to new recommendations from [...]
Covid vaccine rush could make pandemic worse, say scientists
Experts say strong evidence of efficacy needed to avoid approval of inferior vaccines. The rush to immunise populations against Covid-19 could lead to the rollout of a vaccine that is not very effective and [...]
COVID-19 Messaging Less Effective When Tied to Trump
The COVID-19 pandemic has dominated the news cycle for the better part of 2020. As guidelines are continually updated to reflect changes in our understanding of how the virus spreads, it is critical people [...]
Coronavirus reinfection – what it actually means, and why you shouldn’t panic
Scientists in Hong Kong have reported the first confirmed case of reinfection with the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, reportedly backed up by genetic sequences of the two episodes of the 33-year-old man’s infections in March and [...]
Breathalyzer from Israel: A gamechanger for Covid testing?
Could uncomfortable nasal swabs be swapped for a contactless two-second breathalyzer puff to check for Covid-19 infection? Prof. Hossam Haick thinks so. Haick, a professor of chemical engineering and nanotechnology at the Technion – [...]
Video: COVID-19 Update 101: T Cell Immunity vs. Antibodies & Prior Exposure to Other Coronaviruses
The relationship between antibodies for the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and immunity, vaccine efficacy, and spread of COVID-19 has received significant attention. Dr. Seheult is back to illustrate why T cells have received less [...]
Rogue planets could outnumber the stars
An upcoming NASA mission could find that there are more rogue planets – planets that float in space without orbiting a sun – than there are stars in the Milky Way, a new study [...]
Impact of COVID-19 on the lungs of three patients versus healthy lungs
Images Description Three individuals were admitted to the hospital (ages 46–56; to men and one woman) with a multiday history of symptoms associated with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and underwent [...]
Nose ‘smell zone’ may be major entry point for COVID-19
Study of nose and throat reveals why people with COVID-19 may lose their sense of smell Researchers studying tissue removed from patients' noses during surgery believe they may have discovered the reason why so [...]
Covid vaccine tracker: when will we have a coronavirus vaccine?
Researchers around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, with more than 170 candidate vaccines now tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO). Vaccines normally require years of testing and additional time to [...]
