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So many planets outside the Solar System are known that scientists have not only found in them a great variety of worlds. They are beginning to detect contradictions with the theories that had been forged to explain how planets form in the universe.

This is the case of a small star that houses a giant planet called GJ 3512 b . Located 30 light years from Earth, it is a gas giant that, against all odds, accompanies a different star than the one that, according to planetary formation theories, should orbit. Its star is a red dwarf called GJ 3512, similar to Proxima Centauri (closest to Earth) and very similar to other stars such as Trappist-1 or the Teergarden Star, which host planets with similarities to Earth. By way of comparison, GJ 3512 has a tenth of the mass of the Sun.

The prestigious journal Science collects this week the study on this anomalous planetary system, which has been led by Spanish scientists from the CSIC of the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE), the Astrobiology Center (CAB) and the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA ), and has been carried out with the Carmenes instrument of the Observatory of Calar Alto, in Almería, and with the TJO telescope of the Montsec Observatory.

"This is a truly strange planetary system . Its star is the smallest ever observed with a giant planet. In addition, the planet rotates in a very elliptical orbit, which makes it even more unique and rare. Even some think it could having been captured by the star, instead of having trained with her, "says Pedro J. Amado, an IAA researcher and co-author of the study.

A unique system

Another of the co-authors, José Caballero, a researcher at the CAB, also considers it a "unique" planetary system, at least for now: "There are some planets that may seem a bit similar, but were not detected with the main radial velocity methods or transit, but with the gravitational microlensing, which sometimes gives problems of false positives, systematic errors, and in any case, these planetary systems are thousands or tens of thousands of light years away and the stars are much more massive. , our system is here next door , the star is one of the smallest in the solar neighborhood, and it has absolutely no observational fault, "he says through an email.

For now, what they know about GJ 3512 b is that "its minimum mass is approximately half of the mass of Jupiter," which takes 204 days to circle its star and has a very eccentric orbit, according to Caballero.

In addition to that giant gas planet, the research announces the discovery of another planet around that star, GJ 3512 c. And it seems that it will not be the last one discovered with the Carmenes instrument, which is giving even better results than expected, according to Amado and Caballero.

"When we designed it, our idea was to put Spain in general, and Calar Alto in particular, in the forefront of exoplanetary research. However, Carmenes is working so well that, together with our German colleagues, we may now be the team more powerful in the world for the detection of exotherms, "says Caballero.

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