Did we just find a planet that broke the rules? 🪐
Our Cheops mission spotted something strange around the red star LHS 1903: a rocky planet orbiting far from its star.
That’s unexpected. Usually, rocky planets stay close in, while gas giants form farther out. But this system goes rocky–gaseous–gaseous… and then rocky again.
The likely explanation? That outer world formed later, in a gas-depleted environment - a true late bloomer.
Another reminder that our Solar System might not be the norm after all.
📹
@europeanspaceagency
🎞️
@NASA & ESA,
@creativecommons BY 4.0; ESASky; ESA; ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO; ESA/
@hubbleesa (M. Kornmesser); ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen); ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser)
🖥️ ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO; Acknowledgements: ATG Europe