A planet orbits the most massive pair of stars known

A planet orbits around b Centauri, the hottest and most massive two-star system that has been observed to date, as detected by the large VLT (Very Large Telescope) telescope that the European Southern Observatory (ESO) has in the Chilean desert of Atacama.

Until now, some members of the scientific community started from the principle that planets could not exist around stars of these characteristics, something that refutes an article published this Wednesday in the journal “Nature” based on observations made with the VLT.

The system b Centauri, which can be seen with the naked eye, is approximately 325 light years distant from Earth and has a mass at least six times that of the sun, while its main star, type B , is more than three times hotter than our star, according to a statement released to the media by ESO.

Due to these conditions and the large amounts of ultraviolet radiation and X-rays emitted by the system, it would be expected that the surrounding material would evaporate more quickly, making it difficult for planets to form.

“Type B stars are generally considered to be quite destructive and dangerous environments, so it was believed that it should be extremely difficult to form large planets around them,” said Markus Janson of Stockholm University and lead author of the study.

However, the VLT’s High Contrast Spectropolarimetry (SPHERE) Exoplanet Search Instrument was able to capture images of a planet orbiting b Centauri.

The detected planet, which has been dubbed b Centauri (AB) b, has a mass ten times that of Jupiter, making it one of the most massive ever observed, and its orbit is one of the widest ever detected. so far, a hundred times greater than that between Jupiter and the sun.

“It’s a hostile environment, dominated by extreme radiation, where everything is on a gigantic scale: the stars are bigger, the planet is bigger, the distances are bigger,” explained study co-author Gayathri Viswanath, also from the Stockholm University.

The researchers who made the discovery, which they described as “exciting”, ventured that in these great distances could be the key to the survival of the planet.