The largest collection of rogue planets found in the Milky Way galaxy

Astronomers have used observations and archived data from several observatories at NSF’s NOIR Lab, along with telescopes and in-orbit observations around the world, to at least 70 new rogue planets in nearby areas (no parent stars). I found a planet that wanders in space). Of the Milky Way. This is the largest sample of such planets found in a single group, almost twice the number known throughout the sky.

Researchers have found a floating group planet— A planet that does not orbit the stars — An area near the Milky Way, known as the Upper Scorpio OB Association. By examining data from more than 20 years of observations, at least 70 and 170 Jupiter-sized planets have been discovered. The first rogue planets were discovered in the 1990s, but the latest discoveries have nearly doubled the total number known.

To find these planets, the lead author of the study, Nuria Millet Roig of the Bordeaux Institute at the University of Bordeaux, France, along with a team of astronomers, observed and archived from many large observatories, including: I used the data. NSF’s NOIR Lab, Southern Europe Observatory Telescope, Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, and Subaru Telescope facilities will produce 80,000 wide-field images over 20 years of observation.

Hervé Bouy, an astronomer and research project leader at Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Bordeaux, said the discovery of so many rogue planets would not have been possible without access to NOIR Lab’s Astro Data Archive and Astro Data Lab Science Platform. I am. It is operated by the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC).

Data include 247 images from the NEW FIRM ultra-wide-field infrared imager at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) in Arizona, from the same NEW FIRM equipment after relocation to the Cerrotrolo Intercontinental Observatory (CTIO) in Chile. Contains 1348 images. CTIO’s Víctor M. 2214 images from an infrared sideport imager previously operated with the Blanco 4-meter telescope, and 3744 images from a dark energy camera.

“The treasure trove available at the NOIR Lab Astro Data Archive was the basis of this study,” says Bouy. “We needed a very deep, wide-field image, both optical and near-infrared, that spans a long baseline. Therefore, dark energy cameras and NEWFIRM are the most sensitive wide-field cameras in. It was very attractive to our project because it is one of the world. “

One of the world’s most powerful wide-field CCD imagers, the Dark Energy Camera was designed for the Dark Energy Survey funded by the Ministry of Energy (DOE). It was built and tested at DOE’s Fermilab and operated by the DOE and the National Science Foundation (NSF) between 2013 and 2019. Dark energy cameras are currently used in programs that cover a wide range of sciences. Analysis of data from the Dark Energy Survey is supported by DOE and NSF.

“This project demonstrates the incredible importance of providing access to archived data from a variety of telescopes not only throughout the United States, but around the world,” said the NSF’s NOIR Lab’s National Science Foundation program. Officer Chris Davis says. “This is NOIR Lab, specifically CSDC has been working hard for years to make it happen, and we continue to do this with the support of NSF.”

The free-floating planet is in the Association Association, 420 light-years away from Earth. The area contains many of the most famous nebulae, including the Rho Ophiuchi, Pipe Nebula, Barnard 68, and Coalsack.

Free-floating planets were discovered primarily by microlens research. In this study, astronomers monitor a short accidental alignment between extrasolar planets and background stars. However, follow-up is not possible because the microlens event occurs only once.

These new planets were discovered using another method. These planets are lurking far away from the stars that illuminate them and are usually impossible to image. However, Miret-Roig and her team took advantage of the fact that, millions of years after their formation, these planets are still hot enough to be detected directly by the high-sensitivity cameras of large telescopes. The Miret-Roig team used 80,000 observations to measure the light of all members of the association over a wide range of optics and close range.Infrared wavelength And I combined them with measurements that seemed to move across the sky.

“We measured small movements, colors, and luminosities of tens of millions of light sources over large areas of the sky,” explains Miret-Roig. “These measurements allowed us to safely identify the darkest objects in the area.”

This discovery also sheds light on the origins of rogue planets. Some scientists believe that these planets may be formed from the collapse of gas clouds that are too small to lead to star formation, or they may have been expelled from the parent system. increase. However, the actual mechanism remains unclear.

Emission models suggest that there may be more Earth-sized rogue planets. “Free-floating Jupiter-mass planets are the most difficult to eject, which means there may be more free-floating Earth-mass planets wandering the galaxy,” says Millet Roig.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is expected to find even more rogue planets when it goes into scientific operation over the last decade.

Provided by the Association of Universities for Astronomy (AURA)