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You often hear that space is vast and mostly empty.

That's all true, but it gives you the impression that our cosmic home is alone in the universe.

But we're not.

We have a nice bright star to keep us warm and push back

the darkness, and other planets are there to help protect us from interstellar interlopers.

And our sun is part of a massive swarm of stars in the Milky Way, home to hundreds of billions

of planetary cousins. It's actually kind of a cozy cosmic neighborhood. But is that true

for all planets and stars? Could there be planets existing outside of a solar system floating in

the dark of space on their own? Or could a star form outside a galaxy? Could either of these be

host to life who would evolve and see a very different view of the universe?

Today on the pod will dive into how planets and stars form and whether any or many exist out there on their own.

Welcome to Daniel and Kelly's extraordinarily rogue universe.

Yeah. universe. Hi, I'm Kelly Wienersmith. I study parasites and space. Hi, I'm Daniel. I'm a particle physicist, and I like to think of myself as a rogue scientist. Oh, nice. I could think of myself as a rogue scientist. I mean, you're like in academia and you're funded by the Department of Defense or something, right? How are you a rogue scientist? Excuse me, I have no Department of Defense or Department of War funding at all. None of my research can be used to kill people.

Thank you very much.

Sorry. Who is it that's given you lifetime funding? Is that the Department of Energy?

There's no lifetime funding guarantee. But I have been supported by the Department of Energy

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