History Main / RoguePlanet

[[caption-width-right:350:If planets could GoMadFromTheIsolation...]]

* The Time Runs Out arc involves a rogue planet on a collision course with Earth. An Iron (Wo)man from the year 3030 travels back in time to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong and averts an evacuation of Earth by setting up machines to phase the whole planet into Earth and draw upon it as an energy source needed for an upcoming crisis. The disturbing part is that they're told the planet was thrown at the Earth, begging the question what being is capable of such a feat.

* ''TabletopGame/DeltaGreen'' has an adventure in its original corebook in which the [[CthulhuMythos mi-go]] are bringing the rogue planet Outer God called Ghroth to Earth for uncertain purposes.

* In [[Creator/RamsayCampbell Ramsay Campbell's]] "The Tugging," the Outer God Ghroth is a rogue planet that drifts through space. Its song, the "music of the spheres," can awaken every EldritchAbomination on each world it passes.

"Planet" is a term whose etymology originates from the Greek word for "wanderer" -- and while most planets in fiction can be found 'wandering' in orbits around a star (or [[BinarySuns multiple stars]]), this one truly is wandering -- completely alone.

It wanders across the universe silently, without the light of a sun to provide heat. For obvious reasons these planets tend to be {{Single Biome Planet}}s of the frozen and [[AlwaysNight dark]] varieties, although if they're covered in a thick ice sheet, life might flourish in liquid oceans heated by the planet's core -- a moon orbiting one of these planets might also get enough energy from tidal forces to have a liquid interior.

If the planet was not always a lone wanderer, [[AfterTheEnd ruins of civilisation might be found on it]] -- dry cold is one of the best means of preservation we know of today, and ruins will thus be preserved for very long time. Typically, [[ApocalypseHow the fact that the planet was flung away doesn't bode well for the civilisation once found on it]], though examples do exist where the original inhabitants managed to perform a HomeworldEvacuation.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* One of these showed up in the first episode of ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger''; it was called "Nemesis" and was the location of Bandora's imprisonment. Two Japanese astronauts who went to investigate accidentally set Bandora and her forces free.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Webvideo/{{Dad}}'' has an entire song named after real-life rouge planet [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFBDSIR_2149%E2%88%920403 CFBDSIR_2149-0403]]. Dad discusses that something went down there, but what is never revealed, because not even he knows.

"Planet" is a term whose etymology originates from the Greek word for "wanderer" -- and while most planets in fiction can be found 'wandering' in orbits around a (or [[BinarySuns multiple]]) star(s), this one truly is wandering -- completely alone.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CA%BBOumuamua ʻOumuamua]] was the first interstellar visitor we discovered in our solar system, but our measurements of it are notoriously spotty; by the time we noticed it, it was already on its way back out of the solar system, and at such a speed that it is beyond our reach to send up probes. Thus these spotty measurements are all we have, and while the general consensus is that it is too small to be a planet, it cannot be ruled out entirely[[note]]A fringe theory even posits that a signal received is proof of alien life, but OccamsRazor is more inclined to explain it as ʻOumuamua spinning.[[/note]].

* In ''Literature/HaveSpaceSuitWillTravel'' Wormface's planet gets turned into this by the Three Galaxies Council. Kip figures, okay, exile: it's rough justice but fair; they were going to turn Earth into a human meat ranch after all. The Mother Thing (a Galactic operative) sets him straight: "My dear gentle Kip- they do not take their sun with them."

* In ''Literature/APailOfAir'' by ''Creator/FritzLieber'' Earth itself becomes this, as it is torn off its gravitational moorings and ripped away from the Sun by a wandering dead star.

* In ''Literature/APailOfAir'' Earth itself becomes this, as it is torn off its gravitational moorings and ripped away from the Sun by a wandering dead star.

* In ''Literature/HaveSpaceSuitWillTravel'' Wormface's planet gets turned into this by the Galactic Council. Kip figures, okay, exile: it's rough justice but fair; they were going to turn Earth into a human meat ranch after all. The Mother Thing (a Galactic operative) sets him straight: "My dear gentle Kip- they do not take their sun with them."

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CA%BBOumuamua 'Oumuamua]] was the first interstellar visitor we discovered in our solar system, but our measurements of it are notoriously spotty; by the time we noticed it, it was already on its way back out of the solar system, and at such a speed that it is beyond our reach to send up probes. Thus these spotty measurements are all we have, and while the general consensus is that it is too small to be a planet, it cannot be ruled out entirely[[note]]A fringe theory even posits that a signal received is proof of alien life, but OccamsRazor is more inclined to explain it as 'Oumuamua spinning.[[/note]].

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1280px_alone_in_space___astronomers_find_new_kind_of_planet_8.jpg]]

!!Examples

[[folder:Fanfic]]

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Film/ThePhantomPlanet'' has a goofy B-Movie take on the subject. Rheton, the wandering planet of the title, has a population of tiny {{Human Alien}}s living on it--and when astronaut Frank Chapman lands, breathing the atmosphere makes [[IncredibleShrinkingMan him shrink to the size of the locals]] as well.

* ''Series/Space1999'' deals with the perils the people of Moonbase Alpha endure when a massive nuclear explosion kicks the Moon out of orbit and wanders thru the galaxy on its own volition, courtesy of running into wormholes and other phenomena. PlayedWith in that while it's not outright a planet, it still hits the trope's notes of civilisation facing adversity (Not to mention that there are planets smaller than the Moon).

[[folder: Web Original]]
* ''Webvideo/{{Dad}}'' has an entire song named after real-life rouge planet [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFBDSIR_2149%E2%88%920403 CFBDSIR_2149-0403]]. Dad discusses that something went down there, but what is never revealed, because not even he knows.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CA%BBOumuamua 'Oumuamua]] was the first interstellar visitor we discovered in our solar system, but our measurements of it are notoriously spotty; by the time we noticed it, it was already on its way back out of the solar system, and at such a speed that it is beyond our reach to send up probes. Thus these spotty measurements are all we have, and while the general consensus is that it is too small to be a planet, it cannot be ruled out entirely[[note]]A fringe theory even posits that a signal recieved is proof of alien life, but OccamsRazor is more inclined to explain it as 'Oumuamua spinning.[[/note]].

[[/folder]]

It wanders across the universe silently, without the light of a sun to provide heat. For obvious reasons these planets tend to be {{Single Biome Planet}}s of the frozen and [[TheNightThatNeverEnds dark]] varieties, although if they're covered in a thick ice sheet, life might flourish in liquid oceans heated by the planet's core -- a moon orbiting one of these planets might also get enough energy from tidal forces to have a liquid interior.

It wanders across the universe silently, without the light of a sun to provide heat. For obvious reasons these planets tend to be {{Single Biome Planet}}s of the frozen and [[AlwaysNight dark]] varieties, although if they're covered in a thick ice sheet, life might flourish in liquid oceans heated by the planet's core -- a moon orbiting one of these planets might also get enough energy from tidal forces to have a liquid interior.

"Planet" is a term whose etymology originates from the Greek word for "wanderer" - and while most planets in fiction can be found 'wandering' in orbits around a (or [[BinarySuns multiple]]) star(s), this one truly is wandering - completely alone.

It wanders across the universe silently, without the light of a sun to provide heat. For obvious reasons these planets tend to be {{Single Biome Planet}}s of the frozen and [[AlwaysNight dark]] varieties, although if they're covered in a thick ice sheet, life might flourish in liquid oceans heated by the planet's core - a moon orbiting one of these planets might also get enough energy from tidal forces to have a liquid interior.

If the planet was not always a lone wanderer, [[AfterTheEnd ruins of civilisation might be found on it]] - dry cold is one of the best means of preservation we know of today, and ruins will thus be preserved for very long time. Typically, [[ApocalypseHow the fact that the planet was flung away doesn't bode well for the civilisation once found on it]], though examples do exist where the original inhabitants managed to perform a HomeworldEvacuation.

If one of these is deliberately built by a civilization, usually a HigherTechSpecies, possibly because their original sun was [[StarKilling killed, or died]] and they wanted to OutrunTheFireball, it's a PlanetSpaceship. See also BigDumbObject, which may be mistaken for one of these at first glance. If the planet moved itself out of orbit, you might be dealing with a GeniusLoci.

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* Tartarus from ''Fanfic/OutOfTheDark'' used to be one of these in the time between the Eldar stealing its sun and the Federation refitting it into a PlanetSpaceship.

* The entire plot of ''Film/TheGreenSlime'' occurs because a rogue planet called "Flora" wanders into the Solar System in a direct collision course with Earth, forcing the protagonists to set foot on it and blow it to smithereens and as a result getting their suits infected with bits of the titular BlobMonster.

* The backstory of ''Film/TheWanderingEarth'' involves humanity turning ''Earth'' into one of these, by way of adapting it into a PlanetSpaceship to escape the looming death of our sun. The plan is to one day reach [[UsefulNotes/LocalStars Alpha Centauri]], but the voyage will take thousands of years.

* In ''Planet of Judgment'' (a ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' novel), the U.S.S. ''Enterprise'' encounters a rogue planet which has a small black hole in orbit around it.
* In the ''Literature/RedDwarf'' novel ''Better Than Life,'' the Earth itself ends up as one of these: after being reduced to [[LandfillBeyondTheStars a dumping ground for the rest of the solar system]], a catastrophic chain reaction of methane storms, a crashing garbage scow and several abandoned nuclear power plants farts the entire planet out of orbit and into deep space.
* ''Literature/WhenWorldsCollide'' involves the discovery of two planets, Bronson Alpha and Beta, wandering into the Solar System, and the increasing doom when it's figured out that the bigger of the two will impact Earth directly.

* The Magazine/NationalGeographic special "Evacuate Earth" has a rogue [[GravityScrew neutron star]] on a collision course with our solar system, which will destroy Earth and presumably all of the other planets as well. Humanity has 75 years to build TheArk and get away before it arrives.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': The [[VoluntaryShapeshifting Changeling]] homeworld is an M-class rogue planet inside the Omarion nebula. How the planet supports life is never explained.
* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'''s "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS01E18RoguePlanet Rogue Planet]]" features such a world, called Dakala. It's a Minshara-class planet with a breathable atmosphere and a temperate climate, provided by hot gasses venting from its interior. It somehow has plant life despite not having anything to fuel photosynthesis.

* The planet Aether in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' is a rogue planet that does not orbit a star. Instead, light and heat are provided to its surface inhabitants by a mysterious native energy referred to as "the Light of Aether".
* The Owa from ''VideoGame/StarControl3'' are one of very few alien races in the franchise whose homeworld can't simply be happened across as you're exploring. That's because your ship's navigation is based on travel from star system to star system, and the Owa inhabit a rogue planet. You can't travel there without coordinates straight from the Owa themselves.

* The Beast Planet from ''WesternAnimation/ShadowRaiders'', and its attendant toy line, is a rogue planet of a predatory type, constantly seeking out other planets to devour. It starts the series making a meal out of Planet Tek.
* Cybertron, home planet of ''Franchise/TheTransformers'' wanders through space without an orbit, which is why the characters tend to rely on a teleportation device to make it back and forth. Similarly, Unicron's vehicle mode, itself a planet, flies through space of its own volition.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CA%BBOumuamua 'Oumuamua]], was the first interstellar visitor we discovered in our solar system, but our measurements of it are notoriously spotty; by the time we noticed it, it was already on its way back out of the solar system, and at such a speed that it is beyond our reach to send up probes. Thus these spotty measurements are all we have, and while the general consensus is that it is too small to be a planet, it cannot be ruled out entirely[[note]]A fringe theory even posits that a signal recieved is proof of alien life, but OccamsRazor is more inclined to explain it as 'Oumuamua spinning.[[/note]].

[[/folder]]

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