Ploonets: Exiled Moons May Explain Astronomical Phenomena

Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com – Astronomers modeled the possible behavior of giant exomoons and discovered that they would be expelled. Approximately 50 percent of them would survive both the immediate expulsion and avoid any subsequent collision with the planet or the star, ending up as quasi-planets travelling around the host star, but in eccentric “Pluto-like” orbits.

These rogue moons – dubbed “ploonets” could potentially explain several puzzling phenomena, not the least of which is why astronomers have so far confirmed the existence of at least 4098 exoplanets, but not a single exomoon.

“These moons would become planetary embryos, or even fully-fledged planets, with highly eccentric orbits of their own,” Jaime Alvarado-Montes from Australia’s Macquarie University, said in a press release.

While conceding that ploonets remain hypothetical, the researchers say their existence would offer a possible explanation for several challenging results produced by NASA’s now-retired Kepler space telescope.

These include the puzzling dips in the light-curves emanating from a formally known as KIC-8462852.

“It’s better known as Tabby Star,” says Alvarado-Montes, “and the strange changes in its light intensity have been observed for years, but are still not understood. Ploonets could be the answer.”

They might also explain apparent evidence of cannibalism between some stars, or the existence of “exocomets” around others.

Ploonets, thus, may be a vital piece of the planetary puzzle, but, as yet, their existence remains unproven.

Mario Sucerquia, from the Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia, Alvarado-Montes and colleagues concede that even if they do exist, they may deteriorate too rapidly to ever be observed.

“If, on the other hand,” they write, “the timescales are large enough, we could have real chances to detect them in the near and middle future.”

Paper

Written by Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com Staff