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FROM THE EDITOR
Editor David J. Eicher
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ART
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bank. BN 12271 3209 RT. Not responsible for unsolicited materials.For a long time, astronomers
have been fascinated by rogues
— planets, asteroids, comets,
stars. In 2017, astronomers found a small,
strange asteroid called ‘Oumuamua trav-
eling through the solar system, its orbit
betraying an origin from beyond the solar
system. It was simply cruising through our
celestial neighborhood, and we would
never see it again. In 2019, researchers
discovered another such object, 2I/Borisov
— this time a comet, which also had an
interstellar orbit. Understanding the nature of the galaxy around us,
it’s not surprising that there should be many such visitors, in the past
and again in the future.
Wandering astronomical bodies require the attention of astrono-
mers. Rogue black holes or vast numbers of planets f lying solo
through the galaxy have sometimes been suggested as solutions for
identifying the dark matter we know exists. Stars like our Sun are
born in open clusters that get scattered by tidal forces as they orbit
the galactic center, and we know that sometimes individual stars gain
velocity and are f lung far out into space, escaping their galactic disks.
Science writer Russell Hyman gives us an updated tale of rogues
and misfits and what they tell us about the cosmos, beginning on
page 16. He examines the murky detective story of uncovering the
classifications of such mysterious objects and attempting to trace
their origins back over time.
The understanding of such objects is getting a big boost from new
telescopes and surveys that are producing mountains of astronomical
data. Our other big science story in this issue, a look forward at the
Rubin Observatory and Roman Space Telescope also penned by
Hyman (page 24), tells us how these instruments will unveil a new era.
The Roman Telescope will hunt primarily for exoplanets, dark
energy, and dark matter. But it will also uncover rogue planets f loat-
ing freely in the galaxy, and could help solve the puzzle of exactly how
these misfits fit in.Yo u r s t r u l y,
David J. Eicher
EditorThe unlikely story
told by rogues
Follow the
Dave’s Universe blog:
http://www.Astronomy.
com/davesuniverse
Follow Dave Eicher
on Twitter:
@deicherstarIn 2017, astronomers
discovered the first
known interstellar
asteroid, ‘Oumuamua,
certainly one of many
that have traversed
our solar system.
ESO/M. KORNMESSER