A Jupiter-size planet that escaped its star's death
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope are investigating WD 1856 b, a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a white dwarf star. The planet's existence challenges current scientific models regarding how planets survive the death of their host stars.
Why it matters
This discovery forces a re-evaluation of planetary formation and survival theories, providing new insights into the evolution of solar systems.
A survivor A Jupiter-size planet that escaped its star’s death It’s unclear how the planet avoided its star’s bloated red giant stage.
0 Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, R. Crawford Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, R. Crawford Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav WD 1856 b is the only confirmed case of a planet that survived the death of a Sun-like star. It’s a Jupiter-size world orbiting a white dwarf—the burned-out remnant of a Sun-like star. Now, a team of astronomers has used the James Webb Space Telescope to take a closer look at this planet for the first time, and what they found makes an already strange system even stranger.
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