# Wandering planet PSO J318.5-22



## Brian G Turner (Nov 5, 2015)

Astronomical object PSO J318.5-22 has been identified as a wandering planet, moving through space without a corresponding star.

Here's the press release from the Institute for Astronomy at Hawaii University:
https://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/press-releases/LonelyPlanet/

Because it has a mass of six-times Jupiter, it's possible that in future it may be re-classified as a "failed star" rather than "wandering planet".

Either way, it's still fascinating to see this discussion finally arise - been waiting for this for some years. 

In the meantime, here's the report on Sci-news.com:
http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/science-free-floating-exoplanet-01450.html

And for more context on PSO J318.5-22, here's the Wikipedia page about Beta Pictoris, the group that it belongs to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Pictoris_moving_group


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## BAYLOR (Nov 6, 2015)

Six times jupiter Mass? Now that is a big planet.  If an object that sized passed through our solar system can you imagine the resulting disruption that could occur?


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## Ray McCarthy (Nov 6, 2015)

BAYLOR said:


> Six times jupiter Mass


Close to minimum star size, hence "failed star" moniker


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## Parson (Nov 6, 2015)

Do you suspect that we will have an apocalypse story with this being the event? It is hard to imagine a realistic level of technology which could detect and redirect such an interloper.


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## Ray McCarthy (Nov 6, 2015)

Parson said:


> It is hard to imagine a realistic level of technology which could detect and redirect such an interloper.


Detection and maybe a 1000 years advance warning easy.
We probably can't redirect a comet or meteor of small size. Not even if we clone Bruce Willis. A load of hydrogen bombs would simply mean the Earth getting devastated with small chunks instead of a big lump.  So forget about something even the size of our moon.


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## Parson (Nov 6, 2015)

Ray McCarthy said:


> Detection and maybe a 1000 years advance warning easy.



I'm assuming that you mean that "you would need a 1000 years warning to begin to be able to do something." I can't imagine a technology where directing a near sun would be "easy."


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## Brian G Turner (Nov 6, 2015)

Parson said:


> Do you suspect that we will have an apocalypse story with this being the event? It is hard to imagine a realistic level of technology which could detect and redirect such an interloper.



There's long been a theory that a brown dwarf might be in an extreme eliptical orbit around our sun - usually referred to as Planet X, or Nemesis. There's a previous thread on that here:
https://www.sffchronicles.com/threads/204/


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## Ursa major (Nov 6, 2015)

There was also a story earlier this year suggesting that a roaming star had passed through the solar system's Oort cloud 70,000 years ago:





> Scholz’s star passed only 0.8 light-years from our sun, only 70,000 years ago. It came closer than any other known star, sweeping through the Oort comet cloud.
> 
> Astronomers announced this week – February 16, 2015 – that they’ve now identified the closest known flyby of a star, really two stars, to our solar system. The culprit is a binary system consisting of a low-mass red dwarf star (with a mass about 8% that of our sun) and a brown dwarf companion (with a mass about 6% that of the sun). This pair passed through our solar system’s outer Oort comet cloud some 70,000 years ago.
> 
> ...


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## Ray McCarthy (Nov 6, 2015)

Parson said:


> I'm assuming that you mean that "you would need a 1000 years warning


no, I mean you'd have maybe a  1000 years warning, lots of advance warning anyway, but there is nothing that can  be done to stop it. Evacuation is impossible too.


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## BAYLOR (Nov 6, 2015)

Ray McCarthy said:


> Detection and maybe a 1000 years advance warning easy.
> We probably can't redirect a comet or meteor of small size. Not even if we clone Bruce Willis. A load of hydrogen bombs would simply mean the Earth getting devastated with small chunks instead of a big lump.  So forget about something even the size of our moon.



Is it heading toward us ?


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## J Riff (Nov 7, 2015)

Free floating is not really possible, it has to be locked in to the rotation of the galaxy, but just being able to identify planets like this at all, is mighty impressive. What lives there? Big things!


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## BAYLOR (Nov 7, 2015)

J Riff said:


> Free floating is not really possible, it has to be locked in to the rotation of the galaxy, but just being able to identify planets like this at all, is mighty impressive. What lives there? Big things!



Ultimately, it will get by a star and fall into orbit.


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## Ray McCarthy (Nov 7, 2015)

Or get swallowed by a black hole*, or form a binary system ... many possibilities

[*which can take a million years, I saw an article a few days ago on a star being striped into a black hole]


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## Ray Pullar (Nov 7, 2015)

Parson said:


> Do you suspect that we will have an apocalypse story with this being the event? It is hard to imagine a realistic level of technology which could detect and redirect such an interloper.



One already exists: When Worlds collide (1951).


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## Parson (Nov 8, 2015)

Interesting. I should have guessed that someone, somewhere had done it. The cover of a space ship shooting lazers at the colliding planets makes me think that scientific thought was not a primary thought in the making of the movie.


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## Ray McCarthy (Nov 8, 2015)

Parson said:


> makes me think that scientific thought was not a primary thought in the making of the movie.


ROFL 
We are lucky if they consider science at all in Cinema.


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## BAYLOR (Nov 14, 2015)

Six times the mass of Jupiter and it hasn't ignited into a star?


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## Ursa major (Nov 16, 2015)

BAYLOR said:


> Six times the mass of Jupiter and it hasn't ignited into a star?


When it comes to becoming a star, it just doesn't... er... match the criteria.


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## BAYLOR (Nov 16, 2015)

Ursa major said:


> When it comes to becoming a star, it just doesn't... er... match the criteria.



I seem to recall reading that if Jupiter had been twice  as massive , it would have ignited into a star . This object is 6 times more massive then Jupiter.


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## Brian G Turner (Nov 16, 2015)

BAYLOR said:


> I seem to recall reading that if Jupiter had been twice  as massive , it would have ignited into a star . This object is 6 times more massive then Jupiter.



Yes - I keep reading conflicting statements like these. Makes me think there's a lack of consistency there.


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## Dave (Nov 17, 2015)

I'm not following this so I don't really know, but when cutting edge science is reported via the web it is often difficult to know what is and is not the current situation. You may have several different announcements over a period of months each slightly different, as the research progresses. Journalists may use old announcements rather than the latest. Google gives prominence to the most viewed rather than the most recent. The whole experience becomes rather confusing. This is what I have found from Genetic Genealogy anyway, but it sounds to me like the Mass is something that there is some debate about and you want to find the most current statement from the actual astronomers involved rather than rely on second hand news.


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