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‘Forbidden’ planet somehow escaped consumption by its dying host star

The planet 8 Ursae Minoris b should have been destroyed when its star became a red giant, but it continues to orbit strangely close to it

By Jonathan O’Callaghan

26 January 2023

The planet 8 Ursae Minoris b

The exoplanet 8 Ursae Minoris b should have been destroyed when its host star swelled to become a red giant

NASA

A planet has been found sitting in an orbit where it should have been consumed when its host star expanded into a red giant, the same fate that may one day befall Earth.

Called 8 Ursae Minoris b, the planet is more than 500 light years from Earth and is a gas giant slightly larger than Jupiter. It orbits its star at about half the distance between Earth and the …

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