Thursday, 9 November 2017

Giant Planet Orbits Dwarf Star: Monster Planet NGTS-1b Challenges Planet Formation Theories

An artist’s rendering of the monster planet and its sun. Image courtesy of University of Warwick/Mark Garlick.

Joel Kontinen

They refer to it as the monster planet.

A giant gas planet orbiting a dwarf star is causing astronomers to scratch their heads in bafflement. The combination challenges the established planet formation theory.

NGTS-1b is a hot Jupiter very close to its sun, with an orbit lasting 2.6 days. Its host star is a red M-dwarf with a radius of 50 per cent that of our sun.

The problem is that such a planet should not exist, if naturalistic theories were true.

It appears that they aren’t.

NGTS-1b is not the only “impossible” exoplanet. Some are extremely hot, some others have three suns, and many others are likewise more or less weird.

It might be high time to ditch naturalistic speculations and keep in mind that ours is a privileged planet, fine-tuned for life.


Royal Astronomical Society. 2017. Monster' planet discovery challenges formation theory. Science Daily. (31 October).