Atropus spotted floating in space!

[Kramodlog]

Astronomer spot an exoplanet that "floats" alone in space and doesn't orbit a star.

It is a young one. Only 12 million years old, six times Jupiter's mass.

 

[The_Silversword]

Interesting stuff!

 

[Kramodlog]

Liar!

 

[Dog Moon]

That's harsh.

 

[The_Silversword]

I think its interesting, kinda makes you wonder how it formed with out a host star to pull in matter and stuff. And its bigger than Jupiter!? Maybe its a failed star or something.

 

[Kramodlog]

That's harsh.

I have very low self-estime.

 

[Kramodlog]

I think its interesting, kinda makes you wonder how it formed with out a host star to pull in matter and stuff. And its bigger than Jupiter!? Maybe its a failed star or something.

That is actually a better theory than it being a world eating planet.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I think its interesting, kinda makes you wonder how it formed with out a host star to pull in matter and stuff. And its bigger than Jupiter!? Maybe its a failed star or something.

You could argue that every planet is a failed star... In the end, stars and planets exist because mass attracts and enough mass comes together to form an object. If there isn't enough for a star around, then you get a planetary body, be it gas giant or rock. Usually, it's a star that steals all the material, but theoretically, there could just be a low density in a region where there isn't enough mass to for more than a planet.

Which makes me wonder if stars could atually have cores out of heavier elements like carbon or iron even if they can't fuse them.The fusion doesn't have to happen exactly at the core, after all.
Unless the gas dynamics of a star ensure that the heavier elements are somehow thrown out of the star. Maybe this is actually aknown fact I just missed to read about or forgot.