Wandering Planet Cha 1107-7626 exhibits Unprecedented Growth – October 17,2025 - Science
Astronomers are gaining new insights into the mysterious origins of wandering planets with the observation of Cha 1107-7626,a gas giant currently undergoing a period of rapid accretion. Details of the findings were published earlier this month in The Astrophysical Journal Letters (https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ae09a8).
Cha 1107-7626, located approximately 620 light-years from Earth in the constellation Chamaeleon, possesses a mass 5 to 10 times that of Jupiter. Observations made using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile reveal the planet is actively consuming surrounding gas adn dust, mirroring the formation process of young stars.
This accretion rate peaked in August at an remarkable 6 billion tons per second – eight times higher than measurements taken just months prior. “The burst we detected is extraordinary, being similar to some of the most intense growth phases observed in young stars.It reveals that the same physical processes that drive star formation can also occur on a planetary scale,” explained Víctor Almendros-Abad of the INAF Astronomical Observatory in palermo, Italy, lead author of the study.
The planet is estimated to be between 1 and 2 million years old, considered very young in astronomical terms. Researchers believe Cha 1107-7626 is nearing the end of its formation, with limited mass gain expected. Strong magnetic fields are thought to be channeling material from a rotating disk into the planet’s interior – a phenomenon previously only observed in stars.
wandering planets, generally ranging from a few to several times the mass of Jupiter, exist as isolated systems, not gravitationally bound to a star. The formation of these objects remains an open question. Current theories suggest they may form either through the collapse of a molecular cloud of gas and dust, similar to star formation, or through ejection from a planetary system after forming within a protoplanetary disk.
Cha 1107-7626 is a gas giant, unlike rocky planets like Earth, and will not accumulate enough mass to initiate hydrogen fusion, differentiating it from true stars. This places it in a similar category to brown dwarfs, objects with masses between 13 and 81 times that of Jupiter, which can briefly burn deuterium.
“It’s an exciting discovery because we usually tend to think of planets as celestial bodies that are quiet and stable, but now we see that they can be dynamic just like stars in their nascent stages,” stated co-author Belinda Damian of the University of St andrews (scotland).”This somewhat blurs the line between stars and planets and gives us a preview of the earliest periods of wandering planet formation.” the study of Cha 1107-7626 is expected to contribute to a more extensive understanding of how wandering planets originate.
