Massive 'exoplanet' that defies the rules discovered

According to a CNN report, the exoplanet, named "LHS 3154b," was discovered by the "Habitable Zone Planet Finder (HPF)" mounted on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope in the US state of Texas and is approximately 13 times the mass of Earth.

The study noted that M-dwarf stars, including "LHS 3154," are the smallest and coolest type of star compared to others, and that stars form from large clouds of gas and dust, with the remaining material after formation creating a disk around the star that gives rise to planets.

The research stated that the amount of material in these disks determines how large the resulting planets can be and that the amount of material in the disks depends largely on the mass of the star, pointing out that in the Milky Way Galaxy, where M-dwarf stars are particularly common, gas giant planets are rare, while small, rocky planets are more abundant.

COULD BE THE LARGEST PLANET DISCOVERED SO FAR

The study emphasized that the planet in question completes one orbit around "LHS 3154," one of the cold and low-mass stars in the universe, in 3.7 Earth days and is the most massive planet discovered to date in a close orbit around a small star.

Suvrath Mahadevan, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State University and one of the authors of the study, said, "This discovery reveals how little we know about the universe. We did not expect such a heavy planet to exist around such a low-mass star."

Emphasizing that the disk forming the planet around the star was not thought to have enough solid mass to create this planet, Mahadevan stated, "But the planet (LHS 3154b) is there, so now we need to re-examine our understanding of how planets and stars form."

"LHS 3154b" was examined with the HPF, designed to discover planets in the habitable zone around small, cold stars

The research team examined "LHS 3154b" using the HPF, which was designed to detect planets in the habitable zones around small, cold stars that could support liquid water on their surfaces and, therefore, life.

As a result of the modeling and analysis, it was determined that the planet has a heavy core and that this core would require more solid material in the disk forming the planet around the star than is possible. Researchers believe that the amount of dust in the disk would need to be at least 10 times greater than what is found in disks around low-mass stars.

Study co-author and astronomy graduate student Megan Delamer said in a statement, "It is quite difficult to explain what we are seeing with our current theories of planet formation. Based on research conducted with the HPF and other instruments, we can say that the celestial body we discovered is likely extremely rare."

The research was published in the journal Science.