[ExI] Planets galore!

[spike]

>... On Behalf Of BillK
Subject: [ExI] Planets galore!

Nomadic Planets May Swarm the Galaxy
<http://arxiv.org/abs/1201.2687>
<http://kipac.stanford.edu/collab/research/highlights/tidbits2012/nomads>

>>...We estimate that there may be up to ~10^5 compact objects in the 
>>mass
range 10^{-8} -10^{-2} solar mass per main sequence star that are unbound to
a host star in the Galaxy...  Complete pdf file
<http://arxiv.org/pdf/1201.2687>

===============

>>...Can there really be up to 100,000 wandering planets for *every* star?
That's a mind-boggling big number of planets...BillK
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...

>...The Strigari paper is very interesting and useful: their theory should
be testable with current instrumentation using short timescale microlensing
events.  I hope they are right BillK: in the long run, more metal in the
galaxy is a good thing...  spike

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WOW that Strigari et.al. paper is exciting!  This is one of those rare
opportunities where a model can be verified in a reasonably short time.  The
WFIRST is scheduled for launch in 2020:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_Field_Infrared_Survey_Telescope

Is this a great time to be alive or what?

spike