Astronomers have identified an enormous ‘growth spurt’ in a so-called rogue planet. Unlike the planets in our Solar System, these objects do not orbit stars, free-floating on their own instead. The new observations, made with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), reveal that this free-floating planet is eating up gas and dust from its surroundings at a rate of six billion tonnes a second. This is the strongest growth rate ever recorded for a rogue planet, or a planet of any kind, providing valuable insights into how they form and grow.
This free-floating planet is eating up gas and dust from its surroundings at a rate of six billion tonnes a second, the strongest ever found for a planet of any kind.
3D animation. C4D ESO, L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser
3D animation. C4D ESO, L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser
Simulation in Cinema 4D 2026 Pyro.
Test Render
After Effects composition.
Density structure of an accretion hot spot Espaillat et al. 2021
Density structure of an accretion hot spot Espaillat et al. 2021
Kurosawa & Romanova (2013)
