Astronomers have discovered a large group of planets that do not have their own star. An article about this was published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Some planets move freely in interstellar space without being associated with a star. For example, they can be thrown out of parental systems as a result of gravitational interaction. Since they are not illuminated, they are usually very difficult to detect with a telescope.

Nuria Miré-Roj of the Astrophysical Observatory in Bordeaux (France) and her colleagues searched for such planets based on the fact that millions of years after formation, they can still be hot, and therefore glow faintly. Sensitive telescopes can detect this light.

As a result, they discovered at least 70 orphan planets about the mass of Jupiter. They are located in the star-forming region near the Sun, in the constellations Scorpio and Ophiuchus. This was done by analyzing data collected by telescopes over 20 years. “We measured tiny movements, colors and light from tens of millions of sources in a large sector of the sky,” the authors explain. “Our measurements made it possible to reliably identify the most faded objects, orphan planets.”

Basically, astronomers used images from the VLT, VISTA, VST and MPG / ESO telescopes.

Scientists suggest that, in fact, there are many more such planets. By studying the planets now found, researchers may be able to understand the most common reason for their appearance: from a gas cloud not massive enough to create a star, or as a result of being ejected from the parent system.

Previously, astronomers suggested studying orphan planets using the parallax effect.

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