CFBDSIR2149-0403 is the unromantic name of the ‘rogue planet’ scientists have found floating through the empty space between stars only 100 light years away from Earth.
Scientists have a hard time figuring out just how common rogue planets, that is planets without stars, are because the primary way to see extra-solar bodies is from the light that their suns reflect off of them.
However now that the planet has been found, the absence of a star actually allows scientists to examine the planet more closely, as it no longer is overwhelmed by the light from a sun.
“CFBDSIRJ214947.2-040308.9 is probably a 4-7 Jupiter masses free-floating planet,” the report says.
Another thing that allows the researchers to examine the planet more extensively is the fact that it is so close to Earth. Although 100 light years, seems like a long distance, it is infinitesimally small in galactic terms.