Astronomers Find “Impossible” Solar System That Defies All Theories
A solar system 116 light-years away is forcing scientists to rethink everything they thought they knew about how planets are born.
Astronomers have discovered a strange planetary system orbiting a small red dwarf star known as LHS 1903 and what they found simply does not match the rulebook. For decades, researchers believed planetary systems follow a familiar pattern. Rocky planets form close to their star and massive gas giants form farther out. That is how our own solar system is arranged and it is what most observations across the galaxy have confirmed.
But this newly studied system turns that logic upside down.
Four planets circle LHS 1903. The one closest to the star is rocky. The next two are gaseous. And then, unexpectedly, the outermost planet is rocky again. Scientists describe it as an “inside-out” system. That final planet, called LHS 1903 e, is what astronomers call a super-Earth. It is about 1.7 times the size of our planet, dense and likely solid. And according to current formation theories, it should not be sitting out there.
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Traditionally, planets form from disks of gas and dust surrounding young stars. Close to the star, heat burns away lighter materials, leaving heavy rocky matter behind. Farther out, cooler temperatures allow gas giants to grow rapidly. So finding a rocky world beyond two gas-rich planets challenges the standard model.
Researchers used data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, along with the European Space Agency’s Cheops mission to confirm the system’s structure. They tested several possibilities. Maybe the rocky planet was once a gas giant that lost its atmosphere. Maybe violent collisions stripped it down. But simulations showed those scenarios did not work.
Instead, scientists believe something more unusual happened. The planets may have formed one after another, not all at once. By the time the outermost planet formed, most of the surrounding gas may have already disappeared. That would mean it was born in what researchers call a gas-depleted environment, shaping it into a rocky world rather than a giant gas planet.
This matters because red dwarf stars like LHS 1903 are the most common stars in the universe. If planet formation around these stars works differently than we thought, it could reshape our understanding of how common Earth-like worlds really are. It could also influence how scientists search for potentially habitable planets in the future.
The discovery does not overturn planetary science overnight, but it adds a powerful new piece to the puzzle. And it reminds us that the universe still holds surprises that challenge even our most trusted theories.
Stay with us as astronomers continue to probe this extraordinary system, because each new observation may bring us closer to understanding how worlds across the galaxy truly come to life.
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