Press Release<\/p>\n
2 October 2025<\/p>\n
Astronomers have identified an enormous \u2018growth spurt\u2019 in a so-called rogue planet. Unlike the planets in our Solar System, these objects do not orbit stars, free-floating on their own instead. The new observations, made with the European Southern Observatory\u2019s Very Large Telescope (ESO\u2019s VLT), reveal that this free-floating planet is eating up gas and dust from its surroundings at a rate of six billion tonnes a second. This is the strongest growth rate ever recorded for a rogue planet, or a planet of any kind, providing valuable insights into how they form and grow.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople may think of planets as quiet and stable worlds, but with this discovery we see that planetary-mass objects freely floating in space can be exciting places,\u201d says V\u00edctor Almendros-Abad, an astronomer at the Astronomical Observatory of Palermo, National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Italy and lead author of the new study.<\/p>\n
The newly studied object, which has a mass five to 10 times the mass of Jupiter, is located about 620 light-years away in the constellation Chamaeleon. Officially named Cha 1107-7626, this rogue planet is still forming and is fed by a surrounding disc of gas and dust. This material constantly falls onto the free-floating planet, a process known as accretion. However, the team led by Almendros-Abad has now found that the rate at which the young planet is accreting is not steady.<\/p>\n
By August 2025, the planet was accreting about eight times faster than just a few months before, at a rate of six billion tonnes per second! \u201cThis is the strongest accretion episode ever recorded for a planetary-mass object,\u201d says Almendros-Abad. The discovery, published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, was made with the X-shooter<\/a> spectrograph on ESO\u2019s VLT<\/a>, located in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert. The team also used data from the James Webb Space Telescope, operated by the US, European and Canadian space agencies, and archival data from the SINFONI<\/a> spectrograph on ESO’s VLT.<\/p>\n “The origin of rogue planets remains an open question: are they the lowest-mass objects formed like stars, or giant planets ejected from their birth systems?\u201d asks co-author Aleks Scholz, an astronomer at the University of St Andrews, United Kingdom. The findings indicate that at least some rogue planets may share a similar formation path to stars since similar bursts of accretion have been spotted in young stars before. As co-author Belinda Damian, also an astronomer at the University of St Andrews, explains: \u201cThis discovery blurs the line between stars and planets and gives us a sneak peek into the earliest formation periods of rogue planets.\u201d<\/p>\n By comparing the light emitted before and during the burst, astronomers gathered clues about the nature of the accretion process. Remarkably, magnetic activity appears to have played a role in driving the dramatic infall of mass, something that has only been observed in stars before. This suggests that even low-mass objects can possess strong magnetic fields capable of powering such accretion events. The team also found that the chemistry of the disc around the planet changed during the accretion episode, with water vapour being detected during it but not before. This phenomenon had been spotted in stars but never in a planet of any kind.<\/p>\n Free-floating planets are difficult to detect, as they are very faint, but ESO\u2019s upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), operating under the world’s darkest skies for astronomy, could change that. Its powerful instruments and giant main mirror will enable astronomers to uncover and study more of these lonely planets, helping them to better understand how star-like they are. As co-author and ESO astronomer Amelia Bayo puts it: \u201cThe idea that a planetary object can behave like a star is awe-inspiring and invites us to wonder what worlds beyond our own could be like during their nascent stages.\u201d<\/p>\n More information<\/p>\n This research was presented in a paper titled \u201cDiscovery of an Accretion Burst in a Free-Floating Planetary-Mass Object\u201d to appear in The Astrophysical Journal Letters (doi:10.3847\/2041-8213\/ae09a8<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n The team is composed of\u00a0 V. Almendros-Abad (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica – Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo, Italy), Aleks Scholz (School of Physics & Astronomy, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom [St Andrews]), Belinda Damian (St Andrews), Ray Jayawardhana (Department of Physics & Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, USA [JHU]), Amelia Bayo (European Southern Observatory, Germany), Laura Flagg (JHU), Koraljka Mu\u017ei\u0107 (Instituto de Astrof\u00edsica e Ci\u00eancias do Espa\u00e7o, Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal), Antonella Natta (School of Cosmic Physics, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and University College Dublin, Ireland) Paola Pinilla (Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, UK) and Leonardo Testi (Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universit\u00e0 di Bologna, Italy).\u00a0<\/p>\n The European Southern Observatory (ESO) enables scientists worldwide to discover the secrets of the Universe for the benefit of all. We design, build and operate world-class observatories on the ground \u2014 which astronomers use to tackle exciting questions and spread the fascination of astronomy \u2014 and promote international collaboration for astronomy. Established as an intergovernmental organisation in 1962, today ESO is supported by 16 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), along with the host state of Chile and with Australia as a Strategic Partner. ESO\u2019s headquarters and its visitor centre and planetarium, the ESO Supernova, are located close to Munich in Germany, while the Chilean Atacama Desert, a marvellous place with unique conditions to observe the sky, hosts our telescopes. ESO operates three observing sites: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its Very Large Telescope Interferometer, as well as survey telescopes such as VISTA. Also at Paranal, ESO will host and operate the south array of the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory, the world\u2019s largest and most sensitive gamma-ray observatory. Together with international partners, ESO operates ALMA on Chajnantor, a facility that observes the skies in the millimetre and submillimetre range. At Cerro Armazones, near Paranal, we are building \u201cthe world\u2019s biggest eye on the sky\u201d \u2014 ESO\u2019s Extremely Large Telescope. From our offices in Santiago, Chile we support our operations in the country and engage with Chilean partners and society.\u00a0<\/p>\n Links \nV\u00edctor Almendros-Abad \nAleks Scholz \nBelinda Damian \nAmelia Bayo \nB\u00e1rbara Ferreira
\nContacts<\/p>\n
INAF Astronomical Observatory of Palermo
Palermo, Italy
Tel: +39 3762144093
Email: victor.almendrosabad@inaf.it<\/a><\/p>\n
University of St. Andrews
St. Andrews, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1334 46 1668
Email: as110@st-andrews.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n
University of St. Andrews
St. Andrews, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1334 46 3098
Email: bd64@st-andrews.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n
European Southern Observatory
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Email: AmeliaMaria.BayoAran@eso.org<\/a><\/p>\n
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