Scientists discovered a massive exoplanet forming nine times bigger than Jupiter
The new exoplanet is currently 508 light-years away from the Earth. It’s embedded in an expansive disk made of dust and gas which surrounds a star named AB Aurigae. The newest discovery, titled AB Aur b, is one of the largest exoplanets that we’ve discovered beyond our solar system. In fact, it’s currently approaching the maximum size that a planet can be before it’s classified as a brown dwarf. Brown dwarfs are bigger than a planet but smaller than a star.
However, this new planet orbits three times as far as Neptune from the Sun. That’s almost 93 times the distance between the Earth and Sun. Because this exoplanet’s birth is so different from anything else we’ve observed, it’s completely changing what we know about planetary formation.Scientists have discovered a large exoplanet forming like our own Jupiter. Image source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
Based on all the evidence they’ve found so far; the scientists believe that this is the earliest stage of formation we’ve ever observed in a gas giant. Further, it appears to be growing in a way that we weren’t aware of with gas giants at this distance from their stars.
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