Exoplanet without a sun found gobbling up 6 billion tons of gas and dust per second

This artist’s impression shows Cha 1107-7626. Located about 620 light-years away, this rogue planet is about 5-10 times more massive than Jupiter and doesn’t orbit a star. It is eating up material from a disc around it and, using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have discovered that it is now doing so at a rate of six billion tonnes per second –– the fastest ever found for any kind of planet. .

Scientists have identified a lone planet with a ferocious appetite. Located in the Chamaeleon constellation roughly 620 light-years away, the rogue planet, named Cha 1107-7626, exists in the vast emptiness of space, far from the warmth of any star.

Rogue planets like this one are cosmic drifters — worlds that roam the galaxy untethered, unlike the familiar planets bound to a solar system. Most rogue planets are thought to be cold, silent wanderers. But Cha 1107-7626 is different.