'Exciting' find: Possible planets without orbits

[n2doc]

By Malcolm Ritter


NEW YORK — Are these planets without orbits? Astronomers have found 10 potential planets as massive as Jupiter wandering through a slice of the Milky Way galaxy, following either very wide orbits or no orbit at all. And scientists think they are more common than the stars.

These mysterious bodies, apparently gaseous balls like the largest planets in our solar system, may help scientists understand how planets form.

"They're finding evidence for a lot of pretty big planets," said Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, who wasn't involved in the research.

If they orbit stars, their sheer number suggests every star in the galaxy has one or two of them, "which is astounding" because that's five or 10 times the number of stars scientists had thought harbored such gas-giant planets, he said.

more
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43080767/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/exciting-find-possible-planets-without-orbits/

[laconicsax]

1. Link?

[n2doc]

2. sorry fixed n/t

[damntexdem]

3. But if big gas giants are failed stars, might this just mean that there are a lot of failed stars?

But in any case, think of the science fiction story possibilities.

[BadgerKid]

4. That's no moon...