Researchers spot Saturn-sized planet in the “Einstein desert”

Researchers have discovered a Saturn-sized rogue planet in the so-called 'Einstein desert' using microlensing and the Gaia space telescope. This discovery provides insights into the origins of rogue planets, which are not bound to any stars. The planet, found through the microlensing event KMT-2024-BLG-0792/OGLE-2024-BLG-0516, is the first to be located in the Einstein desert, a gap in the size range of planets detected by microlensing. The findings suggest that the desert may represent the gap between the two different methods of rogue planet formation: gravitational ejections from exosolar systems and the gravitational collapse process that creates brown dwarfs.