NEW ORLEANS, La. (WWL) — Despite the extreme heat present, a situation that would seem unconducive, scientists have made the discovery that a massive planet is orbiting a pair of scorching-hot stars.
The discovery of “b Centauri (AB)b,” or simply “b Centauri b,” was published Wednesday in Nature, a leading science journal, after an initial announcement in July. The planet’s presence would seem to debunk a long-held belief.
“Until now, no planets had been spotted around a star more than three times as massive as the Sun,” read the published research by the European Southern Observatory. The organization spotted and photographed the planet via its Very Large Telescope, located in the Chilean desert.
“It completely changes the picture about massive stars as planet hosts,” said the study’s leader Marcus Janson of Stockholm University.
The “B-type” dual star is located in the middle of the Centaurus constellation and gives off extreme amounts of ultraviolet and X-ray radiation. These conditions have “a strong impact on the surrounding gas that should work against planet formation,” according to the European Southern Observatory.
“B-type stars are generally considered as quite destructive and dangerous environments, so it was believed that it should be exceedingly difficult to form large planets around them,” Janson said in a news release.
The planet “is 10 times as massive as Jupiter, making it one of the most massive planets ever found,” the observatory wrote.
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