
Combined, the two stars have a total mass that's at least 6x greater than the Sun. That's certainly a bold statement to make - but what does it really mean? Let's break it all down. b Centauri is located around 325 light-years away from Earth in the Centaurus constellation. In short, b Centauri is the "hottest and most massive planet-hosting star system found to date." Why This Massive Star System Is So Fascinating The image above is a picture of a planet orbiting a two-star system known as 'b Centauri.' Two-star systems aren't unusual on their own, but the properties of this one are off the charts. In a report published on December 8, the ESO announced that its Very Large Telescope had detected something it's never seen before. Related: Astronomers Found Two Jupiter-Like Planets – But Something's Odd About ThemĪ recent finding from the European Southern Observatory has proven this point once more. Humans like to think they know everything about anything, but when it comes to the wonders of the universe, it's always one step ahead of us. There have also been recent discoveries of a galaxy without any dark matter, along with Jupiter-like planets that are much smaller than anticipated.


In late October, astronomers used advanced x-ray technology to detect the first planet outside the Milky Way. This is something that's happened repeatedly in 2021 alone. Even after decades of charting the universe and making countless discoveries, new things regularly appear to reshape our understanding of how space works. If there's one constant with outer space, it's the fact that there's always something new for humans to uncover.

In a groundbreaking discovery just announced by the ESO, astronomers have detected a planet in a two-start system that's hotter and more massive than anything found before it.
