Giant Alien Planet Discovered in Most Distant Orbit Ever Seen

[W.G.Ewald]

An enormous alien planet — one that is 11 times more massive than Jupiter — was discovered in the most distant orbit yet found around a single parent star.

The newfound exoplanet, dubbed HD 106906 b, dwarfs any planetary body in the solar system, and circles its star at a distance that is 650 times the average distance between the Earth and the sun. The existence of such a massive and distantly orbiting planet raises new questions about how these bizarre worlds are formed, the researchers said.

"This system is especially fascinating because no model of either planet or star formation fully explains what we see," study lead researcher Vanessa Bailey, a fifth-year graduate student in the University of Arizona's department of astronomy, said in a statement. [The Strangest Alien Planets (Gallery)]

In the most commonly accepted theories of planet formation, it is thought that planets that orbit close to their parent star, such as Earth, began as small, asteroid-type bodies that clumped together in the primordial disk of gas and dust around the burgeoning star. Yet, this process operates too slowly to explain how giant planets form far away from their star, the researcher said.

Giant Alien Planet Discovered in Most Distant Orbit Ever Seen

Why it's called an "alien" planet I don't know, except the source is Yahoo News.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Original source:

Giant Alien Planet Discovered in Most Distant Orbit Ever Seen | Space.com

 

[Free Karma]

I think alien planet just meant to emphasize that the planet is outside our solar system,

 

[ninja85]

:welcome: to earth.

 

[Eastman]

Giant Alien Planet Discovered in Most Distant Orbit Ever Seen

Why it's called an "alien" planet I don't know, except the source is Yahoo News.

Alien = unknown, unheard.

 

[Razor]

Giant Alien Planet Discovered in Most Distant Orbit Ever Seen

Why it's called an "alien" planet I don't know, except the source is Yahoo News.

The same reason a non-citizen of the US is legally referred to as an alien.
In this context, alien simply means foreign or non-native to the Sun's influence.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

The same reason a non-citizen of the US is legally referred to as an alien.
In this context, alien simply means foreign or non-native to the Sun's influence.

Yeah, but to the inhabitants of that planet, if any, we are the aliens!