Between solar systems and black holes are vast regions of darkness.
Researchers detail these isolated orbsin a study Wednesday in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Despite the planets' proximity to such stellar forces, they don’t orbit a star of their own.
They don’t watch the seasons pass and can’t feel any sort of warmth.
Some speculate the planets could’ve been knocked out of their parent system.
Others suspect they formed from the collapse of a gas cloud too small to offer a star companion.
Pinpointing rogue planets is typically difficult because of their lack of anchor stars.
Living without a star means existing sans illumination, so telescopes can’t simply pick up on such planets.
Going forward, the team hopes to use yet another complex tool to analyze the sky.
Perhaps it can finally unlock why these strange phenomena are such recluses.
