Cha J11070768-7626326 (shortened to Cha 1107-7626), a young and isolated exfoliating planet five to ten times the mass of Jupiter, has undergone a remarkable “growth spurt,” accumulating approximately 600 million tons of gas and dust within just a few months in the new sulse.
Artists’ impressions of Xplanet CHA 1107-7626 floating freely. Image credits: ESO/L. Kalsada/M. Kornmesser.
Located approximately 620 light years from the constellation Chamaeleon, Cha 1107-7626 is a free-floating exoplanet still in formation, drawing material from a gas and dust surrounding disc.
This material consistently falls onto planets, a process known as acquisition.
By August 2025, CHA 1107-7626 had increased its accretion rate to about eight times faster than just a few months prior, reaching an astonishing 6 billion tons per second.
“While it is often thought that planets are quiet and stable, this discovery shows that planetary mass objects drifting in space can be incredibly dynamic,” says Dr. Víctor Almendros-Abad.
“We have observed this newly forming illicit planet devouring material at a fierce pace,” remarked Ray Jayawardana, a professor at Johns Hopkins University.
“Our ongoing monitoring over recent months, utilizing two of the most powerful telescopes on Earth and in space, has provided us with rare insight into the infant stages of isolated objects not much larger than Jupiter.”
“Their early existence appears to be significantly more turbulent than previously conceived.”
“This represents the most intense accretion episode ever documented for planetary mass objects,” added Dr. Almendros-Abad.
The discovery was made using the X-Shooter spectrograph on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) operated by ESO in the Atacama Desert, Chile.
Astronomers also employed data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, as well as archived data from the SINFONI Spectrograph of the VLT.
“The origins of illicit planets remain an open question: are they the lowest mass objects that form like stars, or are they giant planets ejected from their birth systems?” queried Dr. Alex Scholz, an astronomer at St. Andrews University.
Results suggest that at least some illicit planets may follow formation pathways similar to stars, as analogous bursts have been previously observed in younger stellar bodies.
“This finding blurs the line between stars and planets, offering a glimpse into the earliest formation periods of these objects,” states Dr. Belinda Damien, an astronomer at St. Andrews University.
By comparing the light emitted before and after the burst, astronomers gathered insights into the nature of the accretion process.
Interestingly, magnetic activity seems to contribute to driving this intense process.
This indicates that even low-mass objects can possess strong magnetic fields capable of fueling such accretion events.
The team also discovered that the chemistry of the surrounding discs changes during accretion episodes, with water vapor detected in the steam.
This phenomenon has been noted in stars but not previously observed in any type of planet.
“We are beginning to understand how the early life of a free-floating planetary mass object resembles that of a sun-like star,” stated Professor Jayawardana.
“Our recent discoveries emphasize this similarity, suggesting that some giant planet-like objects may form in a manner akin to stars and experience growth episodes similar to newborn stars as they accumulate gas and dust with their own discs.”
The team’s paper was published today in the Astrophysics Journal Letter.
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Victor Almendros-Abad et al. 2025. Discovery of accretion bursts on free-floating planetary mass objects. apjl 992, L2; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ae09a8
Source: www.sci.news
