scientist have been hit the books a “ rascal ” object in our galaxy , but they ’re not certain if it ’s a planet or a chocolate-brown gnome .
The wandering mass object has the catchy soubriquet of CFBDSIR J214947.2 - 040308.9 ( CFBDSIR 2149 - 0403 for curt ) . It was first chance upon in 2012 , when scientist thought it was in a group of 30 stars sleep together as AB Doradus , 65 light - years from Earth .
A young study to be print in the journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics ( usable onarXiv ) may force a reconsideration , however . An international team of stargazer head by Philippe Delorme of the Grenoble Alpes University in France ( who precede theinitial research ) has detect the aim is not in this group at all , and its true classification is a bit of a mystery .
“ [ Our ] results show that it is very unbelievable that CFBDSIR 2149 is a phallus of the AB Doradus moving grouping , ” the team note in their paper .
rather , they say this isolated physical object is located about 178 light - year from Earth on its own . Using a variety of instruments including the Very Large Telescope ( VLT ) in Chile , they also further constrained what this object might be by mensurate its absorption spectrum , the light that made its way to us .
One possibility is that CFBDSIR 2149 - 0403 is a free - float major planet between 2 and 13 times the mass of Jupiter ( similar to one called51 Eridani b ) , and less than 500 million years onetime . The other is that it ’s an old metallicity - enhanced brown nanus , about 2 to 3 billion days old , with a flock of between 2 to 40 times that of Jupiter . This type of object has more heavy elements than your average brown dwarf .
Isolated objects like this are not unheard of . Just last twelvemonth , for example , astronomers founda rogue planet 95 light - year from Earth , seen by its potent infrared emanation . Free - floating planet are typically kicked out of planetary systems by one of a number of method , such as a star passing nearby .
A brownish midget , on the other hand , is basically a failed star . It is a turgid object that has not been capable to start nuclear optical fusion in its core , but larger than a distinctive gas elephantine planet , although the distinction between the two is a bit cloudy .
The squad behind this late study thinks their finding may help exploit out the difference between them . If they can identify which case this target is , then its spectrum could be used to distinguish similar objects in future .
( H / T : Phys.org )
