Misaligned Exoplanet Is Challenging How We Think Solar Systems Form
Astronomers studying the dwarf-star system TOI-3884b have uncovered a striking anomaly: the planet’s orbit is sharply misaligned with its star’s rotation. Using multicolour transit observations, researchers detected repeated starspot-crossing events that revealed the planet passes over cooler regions on the stellar surface. Follow-up monitoring showed the star rotates every 11 days, allowing scientists to reconstruct the system’s geometry.
