Exiled exoplanet likely kicked out of star's neighborhood
Tuesday, December 1, 2015 - 21:30
in Astronomy & Space
The Gemini Planet Imager and the Hubble Space Telescope have revealed details of an unusual exoplanet and its star that suggest the planetary system underwent a violent episode in its early history that ejected the planet to a distance equivalent to 16 times the Earth-Pluto distance and roiled the comet belt closer to the star. This resembles what many people think happened in our solar system's past.