Astronomers have discovered a new class of Jupiter-sized planets floating alone in the dark of space, away from the light of a star. The team believes these lone worlds were probably ejected from developing planetary systems.
The discovery is based on a joint Japan-New Zealand survey that scanned the center of the Milky Way galaxy (image above) during 2006 and 2007, revealing evidence for up to 10 free-floating planets roughly the mass of Jupiter, known as orphan planets. These newfound planets, located at an average approximate distance of 10,000 to 20,000 light-years from Earth, are difficult to spot, and had gone undetected until now.
Read More: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2011/09/billions-of-dark-planets-roam-the-milky-way.html
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