- Astronomers unexpectedly discovered a gas giant Jupiter-like planet named“GJ 3512 b” which is orbiting a dwarf star, located about 30 light-years from the sun. The discovery was published in the journal Science and the lead author of the study is Juan Carlos Morales from the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia, Spain.
Key Points
- The planet completes one orbit around the star every 7 months and has a mass about half that of Jupiter.
- The red dwarf star has a mass about 12% of the sun.
- It was detected using the radial velocity method with the CARMENES (Calar Alto high-Resolution search for M dwarfs with Exoearths with Near-infrared and optical Échelle Spectrographs).
- According to current theories, this planet shouldn’t exist.
