Not a Brown Dwarf but a Rogue Planet

RasputinLives

No passing through my dirty air please
Contributor
So one of the recently discovered Brown Dwarf stars has now been discovered to not be that at all but a planetary mass hurtling along outside the solar system. Twice the size of Jupiter with twice the magnetic field.

Mysterious 'rogue' planet spotted outside solar system | Metro News

It's classed as a rogue planet - which is fitting because in my head a planet has to be a mass orbiting a star otherwise it's a very large asteroid. Apparently my thinking is too simplistic though and it's all to do with size and magnetic fields.

I still don't really get it too much though. It may be technically classed as a planet but how does it differ from an asteroid really as it's a large rock flying through space. How come it gets to be planet but Pluto doesn't?

Also I think we need to start campaigning for NASA to give these things they find better names. Just giving it a load of letters and numbers ain't going to catch anyone's imagination. Give it a proper name. It's travelling so why not St Christopher or something. Jyn Erso? I dunno.
 
Pluto is a dwarf planet. If this thing is as you say, twice the size of Jupiter then it's a flipping big rock and deserves planet status.
 
But its not orbiting a star and seems to be travelling through space so why is it not just classed as a giant asteroid? I guess there must be a definition somewhere that I just either haven't seen or haven't understood.
 
I would of been in orbit around a star but got thrown out by a close pass by another planet. There are probably a huge number of these but we just can't see them as they are cold dark objects
 
Yes Greenlantern101 there is a theory that planets get thrown out of solar systems during the early days of the systems formation. Of course it’s only a theory, there is no observable proof. However a rogue planet hurtling through space makes the theory a bit more plausible.
Or else it’s the Empires Death Star.
:)
 
I think clouds of gas and giant planets behave differently. I’m going for the Billy no mates planet, slung out of some solar system.
 
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