Authors: T. Marshall Eubanks
Gravitational microlensing has revealed an extensive population of “nomadic” planets not orbiting any star, with Jupiter-mass nomads being more populous than main sequence stars. Except for distant objects discovered through mi- crolensing, and hot, young nomads found near star formation regions, to date only a small number of nomad candidates have been discovered. Here I show that there should be significant numbers of mature nomadic exoplanets close enough to be discovered with existing or planned astronomical resources, includ- ing dozens to hundreds of planets closer than the nearest star. Observational data are used to derive models relating mass, radius, heat flux and magnetic dipole moment; these are used together with population density models to show the observability of nomads in the IR, due to thermal emissions, and at radio frequencies, due to cyclotron maser instabilities. These neighboring nomadic planets will provide a new exoplanet population for astronomical research and, eventually, direct exploration by spacecraft.
Comments: 62 Pages. Submitted to Planetary and Space Sciences
Download: PDF
[v1] 2014-11-14 15:14:04
[v2] 2015-01-25 12:25:20
Unique-IP document downloads: 544 times
Vixra.org is a pre-print repository rather than a journal. Articles hosted may not yet have been verified by peer-review and should be treated as preliminary. In particular, anything that appears to include financial or legal advice or proposed medical treatments should be treated with due caution. Vixra.org will not be responsible for any consequences of actions that result from any form of use of any documents on this website.
Add your own feedback and questions here:
You are equally welcome to be positive or negative about any paper but please be polite. If you are being critical you must mention at least one specific error, otherwise your comment will be deleted as unhelpful.