Scientists Spot a Planet That Shouldn’t Exist

A planet similar to Jupiter, which is situated 520 light-years away from our planet, might have managed to survive a furious outburst from its host star.

The gas planet goes by the name 8 UMi b and was named after its initial discovery by Korean astronomers in 2015. It was named Halla, which is also the name of the highest mountain in South Korea and holds a significant cultural value.

This exoplanet revolves around a massive star called Baekdu, which is larger than our sun. Baekdu can be found in the Ursa Minor constellation, also known as the “Little Bear.”

Halla’s orbit around Baekdu is approximately half the distance between Earth and the sun, measuring 0.46 astronomical units. This equals 42,759,659 miles (or 68,815,020 kilometers).

Halla falls into the category of “hot Jupiters,” a term used for exoplanets similar in size to Jupiter but with higher temperatures due to their close proximity to their host stars.

Halla escaped engulfment by its star

Astronomers have put forth the notion that Halla survived the transition of its parent star, which would typically spell doom for neighboring planets. The findings of this study were recently published in the scientific journal Nature.

To conduct their research, the team used NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, a space observatory designed to investigate stars in close proximity.

Through their meticulous observations, the astronomers discovered compelling evidence indicating that Baekdu, the star in question, is depleting its core supply of helium, having seemingly exhausted its hydrogen reserves.

This revelation leads the astronomers to speculate that Baekdu had previously undergone a transformation, swelling into a red giant star.

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Dr. Dan Huber, a co-author of the study and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at the University of Sydney, along with being an associate professor at the Institute for Astronomy of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, expressed astonishment at the survival of Halla despite the usual catastrophic consequences that planets face when engulfed by a star.

As the star consumed its hydrogen fuel in the core, it would have expanded to a size 1.5 times larger than the current orbital distance of the planet, ultimately engulfing it entirely. Subsequently, the star would have contracted to its present size, Dr. Huber further explained.

‘Halla never faced any danger to begin with’

The researchers propose that Halla might have been spared from any danger altogether. The study co-author Tim Bedding, an astronomer and professor at the University of Sydney, said that it is plausible that the system resembles the iconic fictional planet Tatooine from the Star Wars series, which revolves around two suns.

Bedding suggested that if the Baekdu system originally consisted of two stars, their merger could have prevented either of them from expanding sufficiently to engulf the planet.

In this hypothetical scenario, the stars would have interacted and mutually benefited from each other’s presence.