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The planet which shouldnt exist

Holly Stemp and Anna Prescott explore HD 106806 b.

HD106906 b is not a name that immediately inspires an interest or curiosity in the average person and yet the colossal exoplanet has blown a gaping hole through all current theories of planetary formation, leaving scientists and astronomers alike bewildered by its impossible existence. Eleven times larger than Jupiter and with an orbit 650 times greater than Earths orbit around our Sun, the HD106906 b has rudely dismissed all our current theories regarding how planets form. The exoplanets immense size and considerable orbit means that the planet would have to have formed significantly quicker than current theories predict; along with arising from an unprecedented amount of matter from such a great distance from its host star. These inconsistences have thrown up big questions regarding the validity of our current theories and where the planets actually came from.

instruments such as the Hubble Space Telescope furthering our understanding regarding our place in the Universe and how planets are formed within it. Our current theories state that stars are formed from the smoldering remnants of a dying star. The gravitational attraction of this new star results in masses of dust and gas rotating around the star and causing a disc called a protoplanetary disc- the rotating nursery in which new planets are born. Over millions of years, material in these discs clump together to form giant rocks which orbit the core. It is currently believed that these rocky materials exist close to the centre of the star, whilst more gaseous and icy materials, which have not been vapourised from the growing heat of the newborn star, exist in further orbits. After millions of years most of the debris is thought to have been collected into a few larger planets, which orbit around the centre star- forming the planetary systems that we see today. The recent discovery of HD106906 b, using the Magellan telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, has, however, thrown a spanner in these theories. The leader of an international team of astronomers who led the research, Vanessa Bailey, stated This system is especially fascinating because no model of either planet or star formation fully explains what we see. Astronomers current theories which state that planets are gradually formed from the clumps of dust and gas orbiting young stars are thrown into disarray by HD106906 b, as its incredible size and young age of only 13 million years, compared to the 4.5 billion year old age of our Earth, means that this process would take much too long for the exoplanet to form; rendering its existence impossible. In addition, our theories fall

For centuries humans have wondered about the origins of our Solar System and the planets and stars beyond. Recent developments have enabled us to explore these questions with incredible detail, with discoveries made by

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short of explaining HD106906 bs tremendous orbit, given its immense mass. Astronomers believe that further orbits are occupied by ice and more sparse gaseous materials which have survived the colossal heat of its host star, an unlikely occurrence for the impossible exoplanet, due to its mass (11 times that of Jupiter) requiring vast amounts of material; unheard of at such a large orbit. Such inconsistences have left scientists and astronomers the challenging feat of reconciling their new findings with current understandings of planetary formation. It has been proposed that the HD106906 b could just be a failed star that did not get hot enough to ignite and so remained in its current state. If this were true, such a hypothesis would make the system surrounding HD106906 b a binary star system. Once again HD106906 b has blasted through such a proposition due to the mass variation in the system being too great for it to be a binary star system; with the theory being based on a ratio between planet and star of 10 to 1 in mass, compared to the 100 to 1 ratio of the HD106906 bs planetary system. So where to go next? Astronomers interest in the curious case of HD106906 b has arisen not only through its ability to throw current theories of planetary formation out the window but also the incredible clues it has left for us regarding the nature of its own birth. Further study of the exoplanet has revealed that the leftover debris disc from the systems formation is clearly visible in the infrared light generated from the birth itself. As such, future study of the planet could reveal huge amounts regarding the process by which young planets evolve, along with allowing us to accommodate the planets seemingly impossible existence with our current theories.

The discovery of the HD106906 b has sparked the imagination of astronomers and the public alike. Nicknamed Gallifrey due to its striking resemblance to Doctor Whos home, the exoplanet has defied the rules that have been laid down for its existence and as such has opened the door to an exciting new world of knowledge regarding the fundamental question of how the planets, including our own, came into existence.

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