This Planetary Discovery Goes Against Everything We Currently Know
Posted : 13 Jan, 2022 04:08 PM
This Planetary Discovery Goes Against Everything We Currently Know”
The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope has discovered a brand-new world in the Centaurus constellation.
by Ken Ham on January 13, 2022
Featured in Ken Ham
Just 325 light-years away from Earth is the Centaurus constellation which hosts a binary (two-star) star system.
God tells us when all this formed. He created the sun, moon, and stars on day four of the creation week about 6,000 years ago. And he tells us why he created such a vast universe full of all sorts of fascinating structures: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). And they were to be for signs and seasons (Genesis 1:14).
Scientists say that this star system is the hottest planet-hosting system that we know of.
The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (yes, that’s actually the name) has discovered a brand-new world. The planet in question is located 325 light-years away from Earth, in the Centaurus constellation. The planet itself orbits b Centauri, a two-star system that you can often see with the naked eye. Scientists say that this star system is the hottest planet-hosting system that we know of. It is now known as b Centauri (AB)b, or b Centauri b. Additionally, scientists found that the new world orbits its star over 100 times the distance between Jupiter and the Sun.
What makes this new discovery so intriguing, though, is that scientists are scratching their heads about it. Because of how hot the two-star system is, it doesn’t make sense for planets to have formed within it. As such, scientists are perplexed at how this new world formed.
Scientists say the heat from the two stars in the b Centauri system should work against the formation of new worlds or planets. Likewise, the sheer mass of the system should have a negative effect as well. The b Centauri system is home to two stars that are collectively six to ten times heavier than our sun. As such, that makes it the most massive system where scientists have confirmed the presence of a planet (thus far).
According to the study, b Centauri b is 10 times bigger than Jupiter. That makes it one of the largest new worlds that humanity has discovered throughout the decades that we’ve studied space.
The planet itself is nothing to scoff at, either. According to the study, b Centauri b is 10 times bigger than Jupiter. That makes it one of the largest new worlds that humanity has discovered throughout the decades that we’ve studied space. Its orbit is also larger than anything we’ve previously seen. Researchers say its wide orbit is 100 times greater than that of Jupiter around the sun. While the discovery is relatively new, the researchers found that the ESO’s 3.6-m telescope captured an image of the planet almost 20 years ago; however, scientists didn’t recognize it as a planet at the time.
One of the most perplexing things about this new world is the fact that the large mass and heat from the two stars should be creating enough high-energy radiation that anything around it starts to evaporate faster. However, this planetary discovery goes against everything we currently know about planet formations.
