They probably form the same way other planets do: within the swirling disk of gas and dust surrounding an infant star.
But unlike their planetary siblings, these worlds get violently chucked out of their celestial neighborhoods.
Astronomers had once calculated that billions of planets had gone rogue in the Milky Way.
Now, scientists at NASA and Osaka University in Japan are upping the estimate to trillions.
The existence of wandering worlds orphaned from their star systems has long been known, but poorly understood.
Persons:
—
Organizations:
NASA, Osaka University
Locations:
Japan