WARWICK, BRITAIN — Research led by the University of Warwick has led to the discovery of a giant planet located 600 light years from Earth. <br /> <br />Named NGTS-1b, the celestial body is a gas giant around the same size Jupiter. It orbits a star half the size of the Sun. <br /> <br />NGTS-1b orbits the star at 3% of the distance between Earth and the sun. As such, it holds a temperature of 530 degrees centigrade and orbit its star every 2.6 days. <br /> <br />Researchers say this is the largest planet compared to the size of its companion star ever discovered. <br /> <br />The discovery challenges "formation theory" which posits smaller stars can only form rocky planets, not gas giants. <br /> <br />The findings are set to be reported in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
