THE STEPPENWOLF: A PROPOSAL FOR A HABITABLE PLANET IN INTERSTELLAR SPACE

Journal Article · Sun Jul 10 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/735/2/L27· OSTI ID:21562557

Abbot, D S ^[1]

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1. Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States)

Rogue planets have been ejected from their planetary system. We investigate the possibility that a rogue planet could maintain a liquid ocean under layers of thermally insulating water ice and frozen gas as a result of geothermal heat flux. We find that a rogue planet of Earth-like composition and age could maintain a subglacial liquid ocean if it were {approx}3.5 times more massive than Earth, corresponding to {approx}8 km of ice. Suppression of the melting point by contaminants, a layer of frozen gas, or a larger complement of water could significantly reduce the planetary mass that is required to maintain a liquid ocean. Such a planet could be detected from reflected solar radiation, and its thermal emission could be characterized in the far-IR if it were to pass within O(1000) AU of Earth.

• OSTI ID: 21562557
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 735, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/735/2/L27; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
CONVECTION
EMISSION
HEAT FLUX
INHIBITION
INTERSTELLAR SPACE
LIQUIDS
MELTING POINTS
PLANETS
SOLAR RADIATION
WATER
ENERGY TRANSFER
FLUIDS
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MASS TRANSFER
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATIONS
SPACE
STELLAR RADIATION
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE