Q: Are there any ‘lone stars’ between the galaxies, and, if so, how common are they? Why are they not part of a galaxy themselves, if this is the case? Would there be exoplanets orbiting those lone stars?
Tim Burn, Adelaide, SA
A: Yes, such stars do exist. They’re known as intergalactic stars, and the first ones were discovered back in 1997 using the Hubble Space Telescope. They are thought to be relatively numerous, perhaps accounting for half the stars in the Universe. They have probably been ejected from their parent star systems by galaxy collisions, or by encounters with the supermassive black holes at their centres. And they could, indeed, have their own orbiting planets.…
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Australian Geographic (Digital) - 1 Issue, July/August 2019