#rogue-planets

#rogue-planets

In a new study published in Science on Thursday, scientists show how they measured the mass of one such rogue planet for the first timea breakthrough that could enable further studies of these strange lonely worlds. Instead of looking at the planet's orbit, the research team, led by Subo Dong of Peking University, instead analyzed how the planet's gravity bent the light from a distant star, in a so-called microlensing event, from two separate vantage points: Earth and the now-retired Gaia space observatory.

These discoveries show that the building blocks for forming planets can be found even around objects that are barely larger than Jupiter and drifting alone in space.