Stars with a mass less than half that of the Sun can harbor massive gas giants similar to Jupiter, contradicting the prevailing theory of planetary formation, a recent study by researchers from University College London (UCL) and the University of Warwick reveals. Gas giant planets, along with ot
Gas giant planets, along with other celestial bodies, originate from the material disks encircling young stars. The core accretion theory posits that these planets initially develop a core of rock, ice, and other heavy solids, which, upon reaching a mass 15 to 20 times that of Earth, draws in a gaseous outer layer.
Five out of the 15 potential giant planets have since been confirmed as planets using independent methods. One of these confirmed planets orbits a star that is a fifth of the mass of the Sun – which would not be possible according to planet formation models. One possible interpretation is that gas giants do not form through core accretion but through gravitational instability, where the disk surrounding a star fragments into planet-sized clumps of dust and gas. If this is the case, low-mass stars could host very large gas giants, two or three times the mass of Jupiter. However, this is considered unlikely, as the disks around low-mass stars do not appear to be massive enough to fragment in this way.
Co-author Dr. Dan Bayliss said: “It’s possible we don’t understand the masses of these protoplanetary disks as well as we thought we did. Powerful new instruments such as theIn their paper, the researchers sought to identify how often giant planets occurred around low-mass stars, testing if this occurrence rate fit with what core accretion models would predict.
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