Astronomers thought they knew how planets formed, but a new discovery of a massive planet around an unlikely star is giving them pause. NGTS-1b is what astronomers call a "hot Jupiter," a giant planet as large as or bigger than our most massive planet. The telescopes look for tiny dips in the brightness of a star that might indicate a planet is orbiting it. So in that sense I'd say, while it's incredibly interesting, and perhaps a little bit surprising that there's a giant planet around an M-dwarf...they do exist, but they may be relatively rare." With new technological advances, astronomers hope to add to the variety of worlds found, something that Bayliss looks forward to.

Source: CBC News November 02, 2017 18:56 UTC