Unbound planets

Current protostellar theory has determined a lower limit to the mass of a pre-stellar gas cloud fragment of ~0.01 M. This suggests that isolated interstellar bodies in the mass range ~10 M_-710_-2 M must have originated within a planetary system. Two possible mechanisms whereby planets are lost from their parental systems to interstellar space are discussed and the abundance and distribution of such unbound planets within the Galaxy is examined. It is found that, except within the central regions of the Galaxy, unbound planets are expected to be scarce. In the solar neighbourhood for instance, the number density ratio of unbound planets to stars is estimated to range between extremes of ~4 × 10^–4–3 × 10^–2 with a most probable value of ~6 x 10^–3. The faint possibility that the hypothetical Planet X might be of extra-solar origin is also discussed.