Rogue Planet Illuminated by Galactic Centre

The black hole question reminded me of an idea I wanted to implement at some point in a space campaign, but didn't go forward with because I was unsure whether it's merely statistically very implausible, or outright physically impossible:

Can a 'rogue' planet (in the sense of not orbiting a specific star in a close vicinity) be on such an orbit around the galactic centre that the amount of illumination it gets is equivalent of that gained in the Goldilocks zone? That is, is there such an orbit for which the total illumination provided by the densely packed stellar and similar objects is similar to that provided by our sun at 1a.u.

When I say galactic centre, I mean the central area of a galaxy, one hosting a denser selection of stars (and whatever other 'shiny' objects, including feeding supermassive black holes, nebulae or the like) than the rim. If it's doable in the Milky Way with its central area, great; if it's doable in some other galaxy we know to really exist, that's OK too; if it's only possible with a galaxy type we're not sure is plausible according to science, that's a so-so option but I'd still like to be informed about it.

I am fully aware that it'll have to lack seasons, and that its velocity will be odd. It's okay if the probability of such an arrangement naturally approaches zero; in fact even if it needs to be a result of Sufficiently Advanced civilisation meddling, that's okay, so long as such an arrangement can keep on existing with no reliance on superscience once it's in place.

posted over 4 years ago

vicky_molokh‭

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