Stars with less than half the mass of our sun are able to host giant Jupiter-style planets, in conflict with the most widely accepted theory of how such planets form, according to a new study led by UCL (University College London) and University of Warwick researchers.
Gas giants, like other planets, form from disks of material surrounding young stars. According to core accretion theory, they first form a core of rock, ice and other heavy solids, attracting an outer layer of gas once this core is sufficiently massive (about 15 to 20 times that of Earth).
However, low-mass stars have low-mass disks that, models predict, would not provide enough material to form a gas giant in this way, or at least not quickly enough before the disk breaks up.
In the study, accepted for publica...
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