Rogue 'Steppenwolf Planets' That Have Escaped From Their Suns Could Harbor Alien Life, Astrophysicists Say
Gliese 581 Artist's rendering of the star Gliese 581, with exoplanet Gliese 581c (neighbor to newly discovered Gliese 581g) in the foreground. ESOIf you don't need to be in a solar system to have liquid water, then why not take your planet for a spin around the galaxy? Lonely Earth-like planets with tumultuous cores could conceivably support life even if they had no stars, a new study says. Researchers Dorian Abbot and Eric Switzer at the University of Chicago have dubbed these theoretical worlds "Steppenwolf planets," because "any life in this strange habitat would exist like a lone wolf wandering the galactic steppe." And because they were born to be wild. Rogue planets that have been kicked out of their solar systems (which is apparently common throughout the cosmos) could host oceans of liquid water as long as the planet's core is heated, and if the water is buried beneath a layer...