Watch the king of the planets turn on its throne

Researchers a collision between Jupiter and a still-forming planet at the dawn of the solar system best explains data suggesting the gas giant’s core is less dense than expected.

Analysis of isotopes in meteorites shows Jupiter underwent distinct growth phases, rapidly accreting small particles to build a core and then slowing as it pulled in larger planetesimals that generated enough heat to slow gas accretion.

Contradicting the long-standing idea that large Jupiter-mass planets take a minimum of 10 million years to form, astronomers have just announced the discovery of a giant planet in close orbit around a 2 million-year-old star that still retains a disc of circumstellar gas and dust. CI Tau b is at least eight times larger than Jupiter and 450 light-years from Earth.