Fugitive planet

1998/10/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

Astronomers claim that a planet-like object can be seen for the first time in an image obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope. Until now, planets outside the Solar System have not been observed by optical observation but by their gravitational effect. The object shown in this figure is at constelation of Taurus with a mass of Jupiter two three. But, like other known planets, instead of orbiting around a star, it travels through interstellar space, as if it were sent from the star system.

The discovery was made by researchers from California looking for young stars with the NICMOS camera of the Hubble Telescope. The planetary object TMR 1C has left a long tail of 1,400 AU along its path and, as the tail is directed to a young star in the area, it seems that connection between the star and the object. But as a result of further research, both objects are of the same age and therefore interconnected.

Some astronomers have hesitated about this object and say that instead of being a planet it could be a brown dwarf star. However, the brightness of the object is too weak to be a star and seems to be a planet the size of Jupiter.