Scientists Discover An Exoplanet So Massive They're Not Even Sure It's A Planet

Kappa And b could be a super-Jupiter, or it could be a brown dwarf--the exoplanet orbiting a nearby star is so big scientists aren't quite sure what to call it.

You know we’ve found something new and interesting when scientists don’t really know how to classify it. Using the Subaru Telescope an international team of astronomers has discovered a “super-Jupiter” so massive that it seems they’re not quite sure whether to call it a planet or a low-mass brown dwarf (in other words, a star that failed to fire). Located roughly 170 light-years from Earth, the host star is roughly 2.5 times more massive than the sun and its planet is about 13 times larger than Jupiter, making this the highest-mass star to ever host a directly imaged orbital companion--especially one of this size.

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