A rich population of free-floating planets in the Upper Scorpius young stellar association
4 institutional releases
Published in Nature Astronomy · View the paper (DOI)
A team of researchers discovered 170 previously unknown free-floating planets (FFPs) in the Upper Scorpius young stellar association. This is the largest sample of FFPs found in a single association, suggesting that dynamical ejection from planetary systems may be an important mechanism for their formation.
Coverage from 4 institutions
- Wandering celestial bodies provide a glimpse into the formation of stars and planets University of Vienna · Dec 22, 2021 · first to report
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- Billions of starless planets haunt dark cloud cradles National Institutes of Natural Sciences · Dec 22, 2021
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