Astronomers have discovered a “forbidden” planet that appears to be far larger than should be possible given its circumstances. A team of researchers investigated a candidate exoplanet called TOI 5205b, first identified by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite , and not only confirmed that the planet was there but also discovered that it has some baffling characteristics.
While it’s common to find exoplanets orbiting red dwarfs, it’s rare to find gas giants orbiting them. And in the case of the recent discovery, the gas giant exoplanet was found orbiting a low-mass M dwarf, which is unheard of. The planet is very large in comparison to its star and blocks out around 7% of the star’s light when passing in front of it.
The reason the finding is surprising is due to the way that planets form. Planets are thought to form from disks of gas and dust around stars called protoplanetary disks. But models of gas giant formation suggest that these need a core of rocky material to come together first before gas gets quickly swept up to form the planet — and that doesn’t seem to be possible in this case.
“TOI-5205b’s existence stretches what we know about the disks in which these planets are born,” Kanodia said. “In the beginning, if there isn’t enough rocky material in the disk to form the initial core, then one cannot form a gas giant planet. And at the end, if the disk evaporates away before the massive core is formed, then one cannot form a gas giant planet.
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