Scientists have discovered a giant planet orbiting a massive pair of extremely hot stars, an environment previously thought too inhospitable for a planet to form in.
A research article published Wednesday in the science journal Nature said the discovery of the planet, named “b Centauri (AB)b” or “b Centauri b,” disproves a widely held belief among astronomers.
“Until now, no planets had been spotted around a star more than three times as massive as the Sun,” wrote the European Southern Observatory, which photographed the planet from its Very Large Telescope in the Chilean desert.
The “B-type” dual star, which sits at the center of a solar system in the Centaurus constellation, is extremely massive and hot. It emits large amounts of high-energy ultraviolet and X-ray radiation, which has “a strong impact on the surrounding gas that should work against planet formation,” the European Southern Observatory said.
“B-type stars are generally considered as quite destructive and dangerous environments, so it was believed that it should be exceedingly difficult to form large planets around them,” Janson said in a news release.
The newly discovered b Centauri (AB)b is an exoplanet, a planet outside our own solar system, and it “is 10 times as massive as Jupiter, making it one of the most massive planets ever found,” the observatory wrote.
Let's just call it Jumbo.A research article published Wednesday in the science journal Nature said the discovery of the planet, named “b Centauri (AB)b” or “b Centauri b,” disproves a widely held belief among astronomers.
“Until now, no planets had been spotted around a star more than three times as massive as the Sun,” wrote the European Southern Observatory, which photographed the planet from its Very Large Telescope in the Chilean desert.
The “B-type” dual star, which sits at the center of a solar system in the Centaurus constellation, is extremely massive and hot. It emits large amounts of high-energy ultraviolet and X-ray radiation, which has “a strong impact on the surrounding gas that should work against planet formation,” the European Southern Observatory said.
“B-type stars are generally considered as quite destructive and dangerous environments, so it was believed that it should be exceedingly difficult to form large planets around them,” Janson said in a news release.
The newly discovered b Centauri (AB)b is an exoplanet, a planet outside our own solar system, and it “is 10 times as massive as Jupiter, making it one of the most massive planets ever found,” the observatory wrote.
