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#1 2012-11-17 03:01:43
- falkor
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- From: Surrey
- Registered: 2004-08-21
- Posts: 112
a rogue planet without a solar system coming our way!
http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n1211/15rogue/ drifting through interstellar space without a star of its own to orbit, has been discovered a hundred light years from Earth. If confirmed, it will be the first of its kind to be proven to exist - and there may be billions more like it out there. 
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#2 2025-01-10 12:42:52
- tahanson43206
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- Registered: 2018-04-27
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Re: a rogue planet without a solar system coming our way!
This topic showed up when I was looking for topics that cover the Solar System in one way or another
The topic did not pick up much interest.
Never-the-less, this post is available for an index if anyone decides to create a post.
(th)
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#3 2025-01-14 20:02:42
- Calliban
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- From: Northern England, UK
- Registered: 2019-08-18
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Re: a rogue planet without a solar system coming our way!
Since 2012, more of these have been discovered. They are generally difficult to detect unless they happen to be young and hot. Rogue Earth or Mars size worlds could be as cold as 20K. At that temperature infrared signature would be difficult to distinguish from background. So finding these objects is almost impossible.
"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."
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#4 2025-01-15 05:18:26
- Terraformer
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Re: a rogue planet without a solar system coming our way!
Sounds like a good place to hide from Xenos 
Even at much warmer temperatures it's hard to detect something that small light months away.
Use what is abundant and build to last
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#5 2025-01-15 09:47:23
- Calliban
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- From: Northern England, UK
- Registered: 2019-08-18
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Re: a rogue planet without a solar system coming our way!
I wonder if we could actively scan for distant objects using powerful lasers, such as femtosecond lasers? We target a specific region of the sky and release a pulse of temporaly and spatially coherent light. We then use optical telescopes like Hubble to pick up the 'pings'. The timing and intensity of the ping will tell you distance and size. Doppler shift indicates relative velocity. This is unlikely to be sufficient to provide much information about an object other than distance, size and velocity. But once location and velocity are known, optical and IR telescopes can focus on the location. It may take some very long exposures to gather enough photons to reveal surface details. But it should be possible in principle.
Last edited by Calliban (2025-01-15 09:50:18)
"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."
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