Video: Stunning Discovery of a Lost Planet Swallowing Its Ocean at 6 Billion Tons Per Second
Astronomers have discovered a "lost planet" that is devouring gas and dust at an unprecedented rate of about 6 billion tons per second, in what researchers describe as the most intense growth spurt ever recorded for a planetary-mass object.
These discoveries, published Thursday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, shed light on how rogue planets those not orbiting any star form.
This planet, named Cha 1107-7626, is estimated to be between 5 and 10 times the mass of Jupiter and is located about 620 light-years from Earth.
Observations conducted by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile showed that the rate of material accretion on the young planet increased eightfold in just a few months.
"We might think of planets as quiet, stable worlds, but this discovery shows that planetary bodies floating freely in space can be exciting places," said lead author Victor Almendros-Abad of the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics.
Wandering planets are notoriously difficult to detect, but scientists point out that this discovery blurs the line between stars and planets, as similar outbursts of material have been observed on stars before. Researchers believe that the planet's magnetic activity is driving the accretion of material, a behavior previously observed only in stars.
"The idea that a planetary body can behave like a star is fascinating and prompts us to wonder what worlds outside our system might be like in their early stages," said researcher Amelia Baio, an astronomer at the European Southern Observatory.