‘Forbidden’ planet whose existence violates scientific theory found orbiting dwarf star

Paper author and astrophysicist Dr Shubham Kanodia of the Carnegie Earth Planets Lab in Washington DC specialises in the study of dwarf stars.

So-called M dwarfs like TOI-5205 are the most common stars in the Milky Way — making up some three-quarters of the stars in our galaxy — but cannot be seen from Earth with the naked eye.

Because of their relatively small size, they tend to be about half as hot as the Sun and much redder, having low luminosities but very long lifespans.

And while they tend to host more planets, on average, than their more massive counterparts, the way such star systems form makes M dwarfs extremely unlikely to end up hosting gas giants.

Dr Kanodia said: “The host star, TOI-5205, is just about four times the size of Jupiter, yet it has somehow managed to form a Jupiter-sized planet, which is quite surprising.”

Although a small number of gas giants have previously been found orbiting older M dwarf stars until now no such planets had even been found around a low-mass M dwarf.

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1739655/forbidden-gas-giant-planet-m-dwarf-star-violates-scientific-theory