A new paper published in Science reveals the discovery of a rare planet seemingly far too big for the star it orbits. The findings challenge everything we know about how planets and solar systems form- as well as how scientists model them.
"An object like the one we discovered is likely extremely rare, so detecting it has been really exciting," said Megan Delamer, an astronomy graduate student at Penn State, USA, and co-author of the paper. "Our current theories of planet formation have trouble accounting for what we're seeing."
The newly identified giant planet is 13 times as massive as Earth, with a similar mass to the ice giant Neptune. What's strange is that the ultracool star it's orbiting (named LHS 3154) is nine times less massive than our Sun. That makes the mass ratio of the planet to its star more than 100 times that of Earth to the Sun.
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COULD MARINE CLOUD BRIGHTENING HELP US FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE?
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IS IT SAFE TO RUN EVERY DAY, OR SHOULD I DITCH MY RUN STREAK TO SAVE MY KNEES?
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WHAT MAKES THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET SO GOOD FOR US?
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WHAT IS MEXICO'S BLUE HOLE?
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HOW CAN I TELL IF I'VE GOT HIGH CORTISOL LEVELS?
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THE LUNGFISH
In 1836, European scientists discovered a peculiar animal from the River Amazon that they struggled to identify. Its eel-like body was a few feet long and its air-filled lungs persuaded anatomists it must be a reptile.
ARE WE THE ONLY SPECIES TO HAVE BEEN THROUGH A STONE AGE?
The Stone Age might conjure up images of early humans, sitting around a campfire or hunting prehistoric beasts, but evidence shows that we're not the only species that has learned how to work with stone tools. Wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) use stone tools to crack open nuts.
Should we scrap daylight saving time?
Most of us look forward to the extra hour we get in bed every October, but researchers argue that changing the clocks twice a year harms our health
THE INTERNET OF ANIMALS
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