Astronomers have identified a cosmic heavyweight unlike anything seen before: a free-floating “rogue planet” that is devouring gas and dust at a record pace, challenging long-held ideas about the line between planets and stars.
The object, officially named Cha 1107-7626, lies about 620 light-years away in the constellation Chamaeleon. It has a mass estimated to be as much as 10 times that of Jupiter, making it enormous by planetary standards. Unlike the planets in our solar system, Cha 1107-7626 does not orbit a star. Instead, it drifts through space on its own, feeding on a surrounding disk of gas and dust.
