Astronomers say discovery of 12m-year-dilapidated free-floating planet will provide view into inner workings of gas giants like JupiterAstronomers have found a planet,a mere 80 light years from soil, that is wandering the heavens alone. The free-floating planet, and named PSO J318.5-22,is a gas giant with six times the mass of Jupiter and is a relative newborn as far as planets go, having formed only 12 million years ago."We have never before seen an thing free-floating in space that that looks like this. It has all the characteristics of young planets found around other stars, or but it is drifting out there all alone," said Michael Liu of the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, who helped to find the planet. "I had often wondered if such solitary objects exist, or now we know they effect."Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com