There are trillions of Earth-like rogue worlds in the Milky Way that hide in interstellar space

A group of scientists has discovered another object that claims to be a rogue Earth-mass planet. Such worlds can only be seen due to the microlensing effect. The researchers believe that there are many such objects in the Milky Way.

Here's What We Know

The microlensing effect occurs when a planet passes near a star and due to its own gravity changes the brightness of the star. Otherwise, scientists are unable to detect rogue stars because they are completely dark.

It is believed that there are trillions of rogue worlds travelling in the interstellar space of our galaxy, whose mass is the same as Earth's or slightly different. This means that there are two dozen times as many such planets as there are stars in the Milky Way and about six times as many planets that have taken up their orbits.

The scientists made the observations over a period of nine years. The findings will be used to revise estimates of the probability of detecting runaway worlds using the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

Source:NASA