[astro-ph.EP] Motivated by recent observations suggesting rings found in debris disks are wider than those in protoplanetary disks, we consider a picture in which planetesimals formed in radially narrow dust […]
free-floating planet
![The timescale required for a 10 M⊕ring of planetesimals around a 1 M⊙ star to radially diffuse 0.1 M⊕ into the inner 0.5 au. The planetesimal density is assumed to be 4 g cm−3 . The black dashed line shows the boundary where the inner edge is just reachable by the radially diffusing disk, below which the escape velocity is less than the critical escape velocity (v0.5au) and planetesimals are not deliverable at this level. -- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Substructure.png?resize=1200%2C715&ssl=1)
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Substructure Evolution From Protoplanetary To Debris Disks Driven By Mutually Gravitating Planetesimals And Implications On Kepler Resonances And Free-floating Planets
[astro-ph.EP]. Motivated by recent observations suggesting rings found in debris disks are wider than those in protoplanetary disks, we consider a picture in which planetesimals formed in radially narrow dust […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Free Floating Exoplanets or Merely Detached?
[Astrophysical Journal] Microlensing surveys suggest the presence of a surprisingly large population of free-floating planets, with a rate of about two Neptunes per star.
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release
Conditions Suitable For Life On Distant Moons
Liquid water is considered essential for life. Surprisingly, however, stable conditions that are conducive to life could exist far from any sun. A research team from the Excellence Cluster ORIGINS […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report
A Free-floating-Planet Microlensing Event Caused By A Saturn-mass Object
A population of free-floating planets is known from gravitational microlensing surveys. None have a directly measured mass, owing to a degeneracy with the distance, but the population statistics indicate that […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Life In The Dark: Potential Urability Of Moons Of Rogue Planets
Free-floating (rogue) planets are thought to be numerous in the Galaxy and may retain their moons after ejection from their natal systems. If those satellites acquire or preserve orbital eccentricity, […]
![Maps of average lensing parameters of simulated microlensing events due to different BFFPs over the 2D space log10[s(AU)]−log10[Mtot(M⊕)]. Here, Fi and Fw are fractions of simulated microlensing events due to BFFPs with intermediate and wide caustic topologies, respectively. ρ? shows the source radius projected on the lens plane and normalized to the Einstein radius, Lc is a length scale for caustic curves, ∆c represents the caustic area, τ is a time scale for microlensing events due to BFFPs, and P is the orbital period of binary lenses. -- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/On-the-Detection-of-Binary-Free-Floating-Planets.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
On the Detection of Binary Free-Floating Planets in the Roman Galactic Exoplanet Survey
The recent discovery of 40 binary Jupiter-mass free-floating planets in the Trapezium cluster by the James Webb Space Telescope (Pearson & McCaughrean 2023) has opened new windows and questions in […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Interstellar, Status Report
Free-floating Planets Produced by Planet-Planet Scatterings: Ejection Velocity and Survival Rate of Their Moons
The discovery of numerous free-floating planets (FFPs) has intensified interest in their origins and dynamical histories.
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report
Dynamical Instability of Multi-planet Systems and Free-floating Planets
The ejection of planets by the instability of planetary systems is a potential source of free-floating planets.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report
Free Floating or Merely Detached?
Microlensing surveys suggest the presence of a surprisingly large population of free-floating planets, with a rate of about two Neptunes per star.