Hundreds of Nomadic Worlds Within 4 Light Years

New research indicates that tens to hundreds of planet-sized nomadic worlds may populate the spherical volume centered on Earth and circumscribed by Proxima Centauri, and thus may comprise closer interstellar targets than any stellar planetary system. For the first time, there is systematic analysis of the feasibility of exploring these unbounded celestial bodies via deep…
Hundreds of Nomadic Worlds Within 4 Light Years


New research indicates that tens to hundreds of planet-sized nomadic worlds may populate the spherical volume centered on Earth and circumscribed by Proxima Centauri, and thus may comprise closer interstellar targets than any stellar planetary system. For the first time, there is systematic analysis of the feasibility of exploring these unbounded celestial bodies via deep space missions.

They published several papers and discussed the work at Centauri Dreams. They talk about what propulsion would be needed to reach the nomadic objects when we find them.

Near-future propulsion systems could theoretically enable us to reach nomadic worlds (of radius > R) on a 50-year timescale. Objects with R ∼ 100 km are within the purview of multiple propulsion methods such as electric sails, laser electric propulsion, and solar sails. In contrast, nomadic worlds with R ≳ 1000 km are accessible by laser sails (and perhaps nuclear fusion).

It is fairly challenging to distinguish between interstellar dust and interplanetary dust but we have now captured such dust grains in space for the first time and returned them to Earth.

The existence of interstellar dust is well-known, however, the existence of larger objects has only been hypothesized for a long time. The arrival of 1I/’Oumuamua in 2017 in our solar system changed that. We now know that these larger objects, some of them stranger than anything we have seen, are roaming interstellar space.

We know from gravitational lensing studies that there are gas planet-sized objects flying on their lonely trajectories through the void. Such planets, unbound to a host star, are called rogue planets, free-floating planets, nomads, unbound, or wandering planets. They have been discovered using a technique called gravitational microlensing. Planets have enough gravity to “bend” the light coming from stars in the background, focusing the light, brightening the background star, and enabling the detection even of unbound planets.

~100 km-sized objects have an average distance of about 2000 times the distance between the Sun and the Earth (known to astronomers as the astronomical unit, or AU).

Until now, about two hundred of these planets (we will call them nomadic worlds in the following) have been discovered through microlensing. This is a rough statistical estimate for the average distance, meaning that the ~100 km-sized objects might be discovered much closer or farther away than the estimate.

Read More

Total
0
Shares
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Related Posts
Lyra Pramuk live at Volksbühne ft. Kianí del Valle and Nana
Read More

Lyra Pramuk live at Volksbühne ft. Kianí del Valle and Nana

A special performance of Pramuk’s debut album Fountain, with insights from the trio on how they transformed it through dance and movement. Lyra Pramuk’s debut Fountain was one of 2020’s standout albums. Using her own voice as raw material to be transformed and played as an instrument, Pramuk explored ideas of post-humanism, gender and identity through what…
Holtec Energy Storage System for District Heating
Read More

Holtec Energy Storage System for District Heating

Holtec HI-HEAT District Heater System could store surplus electricity generated by nuclear, solar or wind. It will be a two modules called the Preservator and the Steam Chest. The Preservator preserves stored heat, while the Steam Chest maintains an inventory of steam to stabilise the supply system. With no moving parts or “life-limiting constituents”, the…
UK Progress to Space Plane
Read More

UK Progress to Space Plane

Reaction Engines in the UK have been developing a space plane for two decades and they made progress on the core technology. The Foreign Comparative Testing campaign was a success. Reaction Engine’s joint U.S. and UK team achieved over 10 megawatts of transferred thermal energy using the same style of precooler tested under the HTX…
Class 8 Truck Drivers Talk on Youtube About Costs and Expenses
Read More

Class 8 Truck Drivers Talk on Youtube About Costs and Expenses

Nextbigfuture has written about the Tesla Electric Semi. The Tesla Electric Semi can have electricity costs of 17 cents per mile. There have been trucker commenters saying that the maintenance costs are different for electric trucks and the battery replacement will wreck the economics of the 500 mile range truck. 60-80% of the loads seem…