Rogue Planet Gains Mass at Astounding Rate, Challenging Planetโค Formation Theories
St Andrews, Scotland – Astronomersโฃ have โobserved a free-floating, “vagabond” planet rapidly gaining mass, aโข phenomenonโ previously only witnessed in stars. The planet, designated Cha 1107-7626, is accreting material at โa โขrate of roughly a billion tons per second – comparable to the mass of cometโ 67P/Tschurjumow-Gerassimenko, the target of the European Rosettaโค mission.
The discovery, detailed in The Astrophysical โฃJournal, utilizedโฃ dataโ from the Veryโฃ Large โTelescope โ(VLT) and โขthe โJames Webb โฃSpace Telescope to analyze the planet’s growth during an “outburst” of accretion. Researchers found strong โmagneticโฃ activity driving the acceleration of material โคonto the planet, a characteristic typically associated with โคstars.โ
Spectroscopic recordings taken during theโ accretion event revealed a change in the chemicalโข composition of the surrounding disc,with the detection โขof water vapor – a phenomenon not previously observed in โฃplanetary systems.
“Thisโ discovery blurredโข the border between stars andโฃ planets and allows us to take a look at the earliest progress phases of loner planets,” said astronomer Belinda Damian from theโค University โฃof St Andrews.โค
The origin of these vagabond planets remains a mystery. Theories โincludeโฃ ejection from a โstar system or โคautonomous formation through the gradual accumulation ofโค matter, similar to star formation. Theโ observations of Cha 1107-7626 support the latter possibility for atโ least some of these objects.