JUST a few years ago, we knew of no planets outside the nine in our own Solar
System. Astronomers have since found scores of other planetary systems, but a
new survey suggests that we shouldn’t limit our search to the environs of other
stars. Spanish researchers say space is peppered with free-floating planets that
are not attached to any star. So many, in fact, that astronomers are having to
rethink their theories about how stars and planets form.
Last year, a team led by Rafael Rebolo at the Astrophysics Institute of the
Canary Islands first spotted planets floating light years…
