Overview
- The Science report finds a mass near 22% of Jupiter and a location about 3,000 parsecs from the Milky Way’s center.
- Astronomers observed a hours-long microlensing event simultaneously from Gaia at L2 and multiple ground surveys, enabling a measurable parallax.
- Combining parallax with finite-source point-lens modeling yielded direct mass and distance estimates, a rarity for free-floating planets.
- Follow-up imaging detected no light from a host, supporting the classification as an unbound planet likely ejected from a planetary system.
- Some coverage cites an Earth-mass estimate from alternative modeling, underscoring uncertainties that future coordinated surveys, including NASA’s Roman telescope, aim to reduce.