A new celestial discovery has astronomers rethinking theories about the formation of planets. The discovery of a massive exoplanet orbiting a small star is a game-changer in the field of planet formation.
Located about 315 light-years away, the exoplanet is roughly four times the mass of Jupiter and orbits a small star about three times smaller than the Sun. Scientists with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Media Lab conducted observations of the star using two powerful instruments: the Habitable Zone Imaging Spectrograph (HZIMS) and the High Frequency Spectrograph (HFS).
The MIT team was shocked to find that a star this small was able to sustain a planet of such mass. The discovery breaks 20 years of established theories about the formation of planets. Traditionally, scientists believed that only massive stars could support like-sized planets due to the amount of gravitational pull needed to keep it in orbit.
These tight-orbit planets are known as ‘hot Jupiters’ and had been previously observed in much larger stars. Now astronomers are beginning to reconsider what kind of stars these massive planets can orbit. The new discovery suggests that such planets can be found around smaller stars with an even tighter orbit, providing key evidence that the traditional understanding of planet formation and star sizes is incomplete.
The observation also offers a unique opportunity to researchers for further study. By keeping an eye on the exoplanet over a longer period of time, researchers may be able to observe key changes in orbit and unlock further secrets about its formation.
The new discovery is a groundbreaking moment that may overturn decades of understanding between the size of a star and the size of the planet it can sustain. Scientists are hoping to make further observations in an effort to gain more insight into this mystery.
