Planet discovered violating the rules of space: scientists don't understand why

Recently, scientists made a discovery that shocked the entire scientific community and fundamentally changed the understanding of the cosmos. A planet was discovered that violates the known rules of the universe.

Some exoplanets, including the gas giant WASP-131b, rotate in a very unusual way. The details were told by the publication Phys.

First, about the general facts. In the solar system, the orbits of the planets have the same orientation. The planes of the orbits differ by a few degrees, but they make the same rotation around the Sun. Astronomers note that a similar situation occurs in other galaxies, that is, the orbits of the planets and the host star are aligned.

But there are exoplanets that level out these rules. Scientists have no explanation for this phenomenon. There are only theories and hypotheses. Researchers have suggested that when a star forms, a protoplanetary disk may remain around it. It includes dust and gas. As planets begin to form inside this disk, they have more or less the same orbits.

This theory loses validity in the case of the stellar system WASP-131. Imagine a large star (WASP-131), around which a gas giant (WASP-131b) rotates. The latter has an incredibly high surface temperature and revolves around its star in just 5 Earth days (Earth does it in 365 days).

Exoplanet WASP-131b is really a giant, because it is 20% larger than Jupiter. And Jupiter, by the way, is twice as massive as all the planets in the solar system combined. The mass of WASP-131b is 25% of the mass of Jupiter.

After studying the process of rotation of the host star, the scientists said that the orbit of the exoplanet is inclined to about 160 degrees from the plane of rotation. That is, WASP-131b is in a high, almost retrograde orbit.

How the exoplanet got such an orbit remains a mystery. Astronomers have put forward two hypotheses. According to the first, there was an interaction with WASP-131b and other yet unknown to mankind planets of this system. This led to a shift of the orbit. Such a phenomenon is not uncommon. For example, a small shift came out with Neptune from the interaction with Pluto. But for WASP-131b the shift is too large, so the proposed theory does not stand up to criticism.

According to the second version, the displacement occurred through the interaction between WASP-131b and the protoplanetary disk. And it could happen only at an early stage of exoplanet formation.

The universe still hides many mysteries and perhaps mankind will someday be able to solve the mystery of WASP-131b.

Previously OBOZREVATEL also told about scientifically reasonable options for the complete destruction of the Earth.

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