ECON 1BB3 Study Guide - Pan-Starrs, Gas Giant, The Astrophysical Journal

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Economics
• Course: ECON 1BB3
• Professor: Hannah Holmes

Document Summary

One of the key signatures that aids in the search of planets in the vast empty environment of the universe is to look for the wobbling or dimming of a host star, which the planet is orbiting around. Strangely during the search for the failed stars known as brown stars, a free-floating planet, dubbed pso j318. 5-22 was discovered. The planet is just 80 light-years away from earth and has a mass only six times that of jupiter and what is astonishing is the fact that the planet is not orbiting a star. It seemed to have formed 12 million years ago, which is fairly novel when considering planet lifetimes. Pso j318. 5-22 was initially identified from its faint and distinct heat signature by pan-starrs 1 (ps1) telescope in haleakala, maui. Observations from other telescopes in hawaii reveal that the planet consists of properties analogous to those of gas giant planets found orbiting around young stars.