A giant exoplanet that should not exist in its current size

The discovery challenges our current understanding of the planet formation models

The discovery of exoplanets has kicked into high gear in the last decade or so. At last count, we have 4,057 confirmed discoveries of exoplanets. Kepler went out of commission last year but the pace of discovery hasn’t slowed down, as it gets replaced by other satellites & space telescopes like NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which is going to continue the mission in the transitory period before James Webb Space Telescope takes Kepler’s spot in 2021. European Characterizing Exoplanets Satellite (CHEOPS) is all set to launch later in the year as well, with the mandate to spot exoplanets.

Recently, I reviewed new research, which states that there could be different types of exoplanets out there where life can thrive even more than here on Earth. New discoveries in deep space are not only enlightening us on the creation & evolution of our universe, in some cases, it is also challenging the fundamental laws of Science that we base our studies on.

Case in point, the recent discovery of the exoplanet GJ 3512b — a gas giant with a little under half the mass of Jupiter. The surprising fact, however, is that it revolves around a red dwarf star GJ…