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Reposted by Nereide

Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 14h

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At the center of the frame is Cha 1107-7626 (not visible here), a rogue planet that is "devouring" gas and dust from its surroundings at a record rate of 6 billion tonnes per second.

➡️ eso.org/public/unite...

🔭 🧪 #science #planetsci #galactic

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This visible-light image, part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2, shows the position in the sky of the rogue planet Cha 1107-7626. The planet (not visible here) is located exactly at the centre of the frame. It is located in the Chamaeleon constellation, within the Milky Way galaxy.

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 8h

Close! Gas giants form by accreting gas and dust, but Cha 1107-7626 is a rogue planet with no star, undergoing an extreme burst of 6 billion tonnes per second, driven by gravity and magnetic fields. It may have formed more like a star, according to the research paper!

Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 8h

You’re right, it’s wild! Cha 1107-7626 “devours” not just gas but also dust. This rogue planet, with no star, accretes material from its disk via gravity and magnetic fields, like a young star. A unique phenomenon!

Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 11h

not like a vacuum cleaner.😊

Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 11h

Mass and volume can’t be directly compared; density (mass/volume) isn’t the key facto here. Cha 1107-7626, with 5-10 times Jupiter’s mass, attracts 6 billion tonnes of material per second through gravity and its magnetic field, channeling it along magnetic columns, like young stars do,...

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 12h

The magnetic field channels the material along “columns” to the surface in a process called magnetospheric accretion. It’s as if the planet “eats” the material, heating it up and making it glow, much like young stars do.
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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 12h

Cha 1107-7626 doesn’t behave like a vacuum cleaner😊but attracts material through its gravity and magnetic field. Surrounded by a disk of gas and dust, during the accretion burst the planet incorporates 6 billion tonnes of material per second.
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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 14h

Studying them helps us understand how celestial bodies form.
The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will be useful to discover and understand other similar worlds.

Image credit: ESO/ Digitized Sky Survey 2

Research paper➡️
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 14h

The discovery makes us rethink the boundary between stars and planets. It's as if Cha 1107-7626 is telling us an ancient story, of when nascent worlds were places of chaos and rapid growth.
All this means the wandering planets may be more similar to stars than once thought.

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 14h

Furthermore, this appears to be driven by a magnetic field, a phenomenon typical of young stars, which causes matter to fall along curved trajectories. In essence, Cha 1107-7626 may have formed as a star rather than as a planet ejected from its system.

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 14h

The light emitted by the planet became 3-6 times brighter in the optical spectrum, making it up to 2 magnitudes brighter. In addition, it showed changes in the disk of gas and dust surrounding it, such as the appearance of water vapor, something never before detected in a planet of this type.

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 14h

Scientists observed this phenomenon between June and August 2025, using powerful telescopes such as ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the JWST.

In a few months, Cha 1107-7626 went from a calm state to a wild activity, with an eight-fold increase in accretion compared to normal.

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 14h

Located 620 ly away in Chameleon, as large as 5-10 Jupiters, it doesn't orbit a star, but wanders alone in space.

A research team has recently discovered the extraordinary accretion burst that Cha 1107-7626 is experiencing.
This is the fastest growth rate ever observed for a planet of any type.
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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 14h

🧵
At the center of the frame is Cha 1107-7626 (not visible here), a rogue planet that is "devouring" gas and dust from its surroundings at a record rate of 6 billion tonnes per second.

➡️ eso.org/public/unite...

🔭 🧪 #science #planetsci #galactic

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Reposted by Nereide

Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 2d

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A nice circumhorizontal arc (informally known as a fire rainbow, which is a misnomer) over West Virginia captured by Christa Harbig!

It is an optical phenomenon belonging to the family of ice halos, so it is neither fire nor a rainbow.

➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap21083...

🔭 🧪 #science

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$The image shows a circumhorizon arc (or circumhorizontal arc), an optical phenomenon resembling a fiery rainbow. It forms in a clear sky with cirrus clouds made of flat, hexagonal ice crystals aligned horizontally. These crystals refract sunlight, creating a colorful arc parallel to the horizon. Vibrant colors shine brightly against the blue sky, captured near North Fork Mountain, West Virginia.$

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