Planets with No Orbit: Fascinating News

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Recent discussions highlight the discovery of planets without orbits, which may contribute to understanding dark matter, although their mass is likely insufficient to account for more than 5% of it. These celestial bodies are speculated to be failed brown dwarfs, potentially more numerous than stars like our Sun. The presence of such wandering planets could pose a threat to the stability of our solar system, as evidenced by past close encounters with stars like Kapteyn's Star. Current infrared surveys may identify more of these hyper-dim objects, raising questions about their classification and behavior. The ongoing research suggests that the definition of a planet may need to be re-evaluated in light of these findings.
Tanelorn
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Interesting news about planets with no orbit:


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110518/ap_on_sc/us_sci_wandering_planets


Perhaps enough mass to explain dark matter?
 
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Astronomy news on Phys.org
Tanelorn said:
Interesting news about planets with no orbit:


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110518/ap_on_sc/us_sci_wandering_planets


Perhaps enough mass to explain dark matter?
Probably not, there's not enough microlensing events for MACHOs to be responsible for more than about 5% of dark matter IIRC.
 
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And BBN tells us dark matter is mostly non-baryonic.
 
My view is that these could be failed brown dwarf stars which couldn't acquire enough mass to start nuclear reactions. It makes sense to me that there could be a lot more of these "Jupiters" floating around on their own than stars like our own.

Such bodies could also threaten the stability of our solar system. This isn't Sci-Fi, there was a star which 10000 years ago passed within 7 light years of us and is now 13 light years from us. It travels retrograde from us in orbit around the galaxy. I think it is called Kapteyn's Star:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapteyn's_Star



Thanks Vanadium. Here is a BBN article:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/11/01/dark-matter-still-existing/
 
From current data, there'll be a ~1 LY fly-by in a million years or so...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_710

It could seriously perturb the Oort Cloud, scattering umpteen potential comets. The good news is those headed our way may take several million years to reach inner solar system...

Of course, the current infrared surveys could yet find several hyper-dim 'brown dwarf' candidates in our neighbourhood. Problem then is to determine if they are orbiting the Sun, have 'Common Proper Motion' or are merely 'passing through'...
 
Could at least some of these 'wanderers' be micro black holes? If so, I hope one isn't headed our way!
 
Looks like they will once again have to redefine what a planet is.
 

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