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

The planet 8 Ursae Minoris b ought to have been destroyed when its star turned a purple big, nevertheless it continues to orbit unusually near the star

By Jonathan O’Callaghan

Astronomers have discovered a planet circumnavigating a star in an orbit that ought to have been consumed when the star expanded right into a purple big, the identical destiny which will someday befall Earth.

Known as 8 Ursae Minoris b, the planet is greater than 400 mild years from Earth and is a fuel big world barely bigger than Jupiter. It orbits its star at about half the space between Earth and …