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Planet 1,000 light-years away mysteriously vanishes before astronomers’ eyes
Confirmed
In Short: Astronomers have observed a planet, TOI-2535 b, that appears to have vanished, raising questions about its existence.
Astronomers have detected a mysterious phenomenon in the far reaches of the solar system: a planet that seems to have vanished before their eyes. The planet, known as TOI-2535 b, was observed for years and was initially identified as a 'hot Jupiter' with an orbital period of just 8.25 days.
Scientists first noticed TOI-2535 b in archived telescope images, leading to years of follow-up observations. However, recent observations show no trace of the planet, leaving astronomers puzzled.
The disappearance of TOI-2535 b is unprecedented and has sparked intense debate among astronomers. Some suggest that the planet may have been a transient object, while others propose that it could have been a false detection.
Meanwhile, other recent discoveries include a dwarf planet candidate, 2026 ED138, which could become the sixth officially recognized dwarf planet in the solar system. This object is located about 4.3 billion miles from the sun, farther away than Pluto.
Researchers at MIT have also discovered a planet, BD+05 4868 Ab, located approximately 140 light-years away. This planet is disintegrating as it orbits its star in just 30.5 hours, leaving behind a long, comet-like debris tail.
In another discovery, astronomers have found a possible new dwarf planet beyond Pluto, located at the edges of the solar system. This object is the second-most distant trans-Neptunian object known.
Astronomers have also detected a planet in the habitable zone of HD 156295, a hot A-type star about 2,000 K hotter than the Sun. This discovery expands the search for habitable planets to hotter stars.
The study estimates that about 10 percent of A-type stars host planets of 5 to 10 Jupiter masses with orbital periods of 1,900 to 2,600 days, with a 68 percent range of 2 to 31 percent.
Additionally, the planet GJ 3090 b has been found to have a highly misaligned orbit, orbiting retrogradely in the opposite direction to the rotation of its star.
Astronomers continue to use advanced telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope and the ALMA facility to study these distant objects, providing insights into their physical properties and potential development over time.
What this adds
The discovery of 2026 ED138 and other dwarf planet candidates underscores the ongoing efforts to map the outer reaches of our solar system.
The disintegration of BD+05 4868 Ab provides a unique opportunity to study the processes that lead to the destruction of planets.
The detection of a planet in the habitable zone of HD 156295 challenges previous assumptions about the habitability of planets around hotter stars.
What's confirmed
- The distant world, known as TOI-2535 b, has been followed by astronomers for years, allowing them to establish that it was a “hot Jupiter” where a year takes only 8.25 days.
- Astronomers have found a possible new dwarf planet beyond Pluto.
What's still developing
- Archived observations appear to show a moving object in the far-distant outer solar system, but its reality is unclear An artist’s concept shows an ice giant planet adrift in the outer reaches of the solar system.
- Often called Planet Nine—poking fun at professional astronomers’ 2006 demotion of Pluto from being the solar system’s ninth planet—this hypothetical body’s existence has been hotly debated, though that hasn’t slowed the search.
- Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the most energetic cosmic events since the Big Bang, releasing the most energetic type of radiation, gamma rays – the stuff that turned unassuming Bruce Banner into the rampaging Hulk, but on an astronomical, potentially planet-sterilizing level.
- This angle, often called Psi, varies from approximately 3 to 7 degrees depending on the planet.
- In this ideal scenario, the planets formed in the disc will then rotate in the same direction as their star's rotation and in the same plane as the stellar equator, perpendicular to the axis of rotation.
- Kalas first started searching for a dusty disk around Fomalhaut in 1993, hoping to see for the first time the debris left over after planet formation.
- Thanks to NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (HST), he eventually found such a disk around the star and, in 2008, reported finding a bright spot near the disk that was likely a planet, the first to be imaged directly at visible wavelengths.
- Researchers calculated the strength of the magnetic field of the planet to be at least 1.25 kilogauss (kG) based on the highest frequency detected.
- Finally, this dwarf planet candidate was likely discovered only recently because it is located in a densely populated region of the sky.
- The observations were taken as part of Hubble’s Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program, which has photographed the outer planets annually for more than a decade.
- Astronomers had long wondered whether the ringed planet’s southern hemisphere might hide a mirror-image structure.