Can Planets Form Without Stars?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion explores the possibility of planet formation in systems that do not have a star, focusing on the conditions under which this might occur and the characteristics of such planets.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants inquire about the likelihood of planets forming in a dark system without a star, questioning the mechanisms and conditions required for such formation.
  • One participant suggests that a massive central body, such as a brown dwarf, could facilitate planet formation without being a star.
  • Another participant notes that oversized gas giants, like a large Jupiter, could also serve as central bodies for planets, although they expect these planets to be relatively small.
  • Discussion includes the concept of rogue planets, which are not bound to any star and move independently through space, raising questions about their formation and characteristics.
  • A participant references a discovery of a low-mass exoplanet orbiting a star with insufficient mass for nuclear fusion, suggesting that there are diverse scenarios for planet formation.
  • Definitions of sub-brown dwarfs are provided, highlighting their formation through gas cloud collapse rather than traditional accretion processes.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express varying views on the mechanisms of planet formation without stars, and no consensus is reached regarding the likelihood or characteristics of such planets.

Contextual Notes

Participants discuss the definitions and classifications of celestial bodies, including rogue planets and sub-brown dwarfs, which may influence the understanding of planet formation in non-stellar systems.

TShock
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has anyone ever done research on the accretion of planets into a system without a star forming? Just a dark system. How likely is this to happen as opposed to a system forming with a star?
 
Astronomy news on Phys.org
..what would the planets orbit?
 
Central body can be massive, but it can be not massive enough to become a star. Like a brown dwarf (check wikipedia article). See also wiki entry on Cha 110913-773444.
 
As Borek noted, planet formation does not require a star. An oversized 'Jupiter' would be sufficient. I expect any such planets would, however, be small.
 
"David Bennett of the University of Notre Dame has discovered an extra-solar planet of about three Earth masses orbiting a star with a mass so low that its core may not be large enough to maintain nuclear reactions"

I noticed this on Science Daily this morning.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080602131105.htm
 
Wikipedia said:
A rogue planet is an object which has equivalent mass to a planet and is not gravitationally bound to any star, and that therefore moves through space as an independent object.

Sub-brown dwarf is a planetary-mass object whose mass is smaller than the low-mass cut-off for brown dwarfs (around 13 times the mass of Jupiter). Unlike proper brown dwarfs, they are not massive enough to fuse deuterium. Sub-brown dwarfs are formed in the manner of stars, through the collapse of a gas cloud, and not through accretion or core collapse from a circumstellar disc.
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_planet"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub-brown_dwarf"
 
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