The Gang of Five

Beyond the Mysterious Beyond => The Fridge => Topic started by: pokeplayer984 on August 12, 2013, 11:27:08 PM

Title: New Planet Puzzles Scientists
Post by: pokeplayer984 on August 12, 2013, 11:27:08 PM
A new planet that is discovered to be 57 light years away has puzzled scientists, and it's not just the color.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/...les-Astronomers (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126757-New-Planet-Puzzles-Astronomers)

Well, time for you young scientists of the forum to start theorizing.  Any takers?
Title: New Planet Puzzles Scientists
Post by: Nick22 on August 12, 2013, 11:45:11 PM
well my response is two fold
 first the planet probably gobbled up all the debris that was close by when it formed. second, planets move around in orbit just look at our own solar system, jupiter was once further away from the sun than it is now.. i'm thinking the planet was originally closer to its star, sucked up all the debris near it and has moved in orbit to a place where there is little further debris to be sucked up.  in shorts its cleared everything near it,  so that area of space is empty.
Title: New Planet Puzzles Scientists
Post by: Kor on August 13, 2013, 12:27:14 AM
I assume, maybe wrongly, that maybe it sucked up all the debre field into itself instead of it forming various planets, maybe as it moved in it's orbit farther from the sun of that system.
Title: New Planet Puzzles Scientists
Post by: Serris on August 13, 2013, 10:04:14 AM
Maybe it's a rogue planet (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_planet)?

The fact that many rogue planets are large gas giants and the fact that there is little debris present in the system leads me to believe that this particular planet is a rogue planet that got captured by the star's gravity.
Title: New Planet Puzzles Scientists
Post by: Kor on August 13, 2013, 11:02:34 AM
Interesting, I had not thought of that.  That is certainly a possibility.