Rogue planet's record growth spurt of 6 billion tonnes per second
October 5, 2025
Velentina Boulter
Artist’s impression of the rogue planet Cha 1107-7626. Researchers suspect that strong magnetic fields could be funnelling material towards the planet, something only seen in stars. Credit: ESO
Astronomers have witnessed a planet 620 light-years away eat up nearby gas and dust at a rate of 6 billion tonnes a second, the fastest growth rate ever recorded for a rogue planet.
The planet, Cha 1107-7626, has a mass 5 to 10 times that of Jupiter. These observations shed light on how rogue planets, which don’t orbit a star, grow and behave during their early formation.
Planets are formed through a process called accretion, where dust, gas and other particles are gravitationally attracted into a disk which eventually clumps together into a planet. The dramatic rate at which this planet is accreting suggests that some rogue planets may form more like stars than typical star-orbiting planets.
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“People may think of planets as quiet and stable worlds, but with this discovery we see that planetary-mass objects freely floating in space can be exciting places.”
More:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/astronomy/rogue-planets-record-growth-spurt-of-6-billion-tonnes-per-second/
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