Mystery World Baffles Astronomers

October 30, 2013
Mystery World Baffles Astronomers

Kepler-78b is a planet that shouldn't exist. This scorching lava world circles its star every eight and a half hours at a distance of less than one million miles - one of the tightest known orbits. According to current theories of planet formation, it couldn't have formed so close to its star, nor could it have moved there.

Read press release.
Image credit: David A. Aguilar

 

 

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