COSMOS MAGAZINE

7 of the weirdest planets scientists discovered in 2024

1: New exoplanet’s cotton candy-density can’t be explained Astronomers continue to be puzzled about the formation of the so-called cotton candy planets, and now they’ve found another one that has the least density of any exoplanet yet found.

A recreation of a super-puff planet. Credit: Baperookamo (CC BY-SA)

A planet in a binary star system has been found by a team of astronomers working with citizen scientists. The planet is also a record breaker. Its star is the brightest known to host a transiting planet in the “habitable” zone – where liquid water can exist on the planet’s surface.

Artist’s interpretation of TOI 4633 c. Credit: Ed Bell for the Simons Foundation.

2: Record-breaking exoplanet found by citizen scientists

3: Youngest transiting exoplanet shows how planets form A giant planet orbiting a very young star could be the youngest transiting exoplanet found. Its discovery could shed light on how planets form.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt, K. Miller

4: Highly eccentric exoplanet helps solve hot Jupiter mystery An international team of astronomers has found a huge exoplanet with a “super-eccentric” orbit, more elliptical than any previously discovered. The bizarre planet, which also orbits backwards, could help to solve the mystery of how “hot Jupiters” form.

Credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva

Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser.

5: Exoplanet found around our closest lone star An exoplanet has been discovered orbiting Barnard’s Star – the nearest single star to Earth (apart from the Sun), only 6 light-years away. Barnard’s star has long been thought to be a prime candidate for the detection of Earth-like exoplanets. A false alarm in 2018 might have dashed hopes. But astronomers are a patient bunch.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and L. Hustak, J. Olmsted, D. Player and F. Summers

6: New planet spotted in super puff system from timing mismatch Ever had your plans thrown off by something happening 2 hours earlier than you thought it would?  Confused 12- and 24-hour clocks, perhaps? When it happened to a  team of astronomers, they discovered a new planet. The exoplanet was spotted because another planet in  the same star system passed in front of its sun 2 hours earlier than predicted.

Credit: Liyao Xie / Getty Images

7: Evidence mounts for undiscovered planet in Solar System For the past decade, astronomers have been finding it increasingly likely that something big – often called Planet X – might be lurking in the outer Solar System far beyond Pluto. And a new study has substantially raised the likelihood that it really exists.

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