Astronomers have discovered a gas giant exoplanet that should not exist
The baffling discovery of a planet that should not exist in a particular solar system defies science.
Important discoveries have been made by a series of astronomers in recent weeks, and that is that scientists from the Carnegie Institution for Science have discovered a very unusual gas giant exoplanet, and it is a rare gas planet given that it has a quarter of the size of its host star, thus defying current classification systems.
Thanks to this discovery, astronomers could even begin to challenge what we know about how planets form since the existence of this exoplanet would make little sense on the table.
“TOI-5205b should not exist based on our present theoretical knowledge of planet formation; it is a ‘forbidden’ planet,” stated team leader and Carnegie astronomer Shubham Kanodia in a release.
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As they explain in the article published in The Astronomical Journal, this planet orbits a small red dwarf star called TOI-5205 and is one of the most common types of stars in our galaxy.
Although these types of stars are known to host planets, they can’t host gas giants of any considerable size like the one they have discovered.
So this gas giant called TOI 5205b is much bigger than it should be, about a quarter of the size of its host star.
That puzzling planet was originally identified by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).
“The host star, TOI-5205, is almost four times the size of Jupiter, but has somehow managed to form a Jupiter-sized planet, which is pretty amazing!” adds Kanodia.
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It is capable of blocking 7% of its star
While not the first gas giant to orbit a red dwarf star of this size, TOI-5025b is much larger than any previously found.
This planet is capable of blocking 7% of its star when it passes in front of it, so it is ideal to be observed by space telescopes such as NASA’s James Webb.
According to Kanodia, the discovery of TOI-5205b “expands our understanding of the discs in which these planets are created.” If there isn’t enough rocky material in the disc to create the first core, a gas giant planet will emerge first.
Finally, he says, “a gas giant planet cannot form if the disc evaporates before its passive core forms.
