Most distant orbiting planet discovered

ISLAMABAD: Astronomers have discovered the most distantly orbiting planet to date weighing in at 11 times Jupiter s mass and revolving its host star at 650 times the average Earth Sun distance.

The discovery of the giant planet has puzzled the astronomers effectively throwing a wrench in planet formation theories.

An international team of astronomers led by a University of Arizona graduate student discovered the planet HD 106906 b around a Sun like star Science Daily reported.

This system is especially fascinating because no model of either planet or star formation fully explains what we see said Vanessa Bailey who led the research.

It is thought that planets close to their stars like Earth coalesce from small asteroid like bodies born in the primordial disk of dust and gas that surrounds a forming star. However this process acts too slowly to grow giant planets far from their star researchers said.