New 'Zombie Planet' images shock scientists

New images from the Hubble Space Telescope have captured a surprising development in the "zombie planet" orbiting the Fomalhaut star.
On Tuesday, NASA released images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope which show a massive debris ring and mysterious planet orbiting the Fomalhaut star. The planet, which is officially known as Fomalhaut b, but is commonly dubbed "the zombie planet", has appeared and disappeared from view over time. Astronomers now believe that the planet's "hide and seek" activity is due to its extreme orbit.

According to a Hubble Telescope news release, the unusual orbit of the planet will bring it to within 4.6 billion miles of its star at one point, while later being as far as 27 billion miles from the star. The extreme orbit means it takes the planet 2,000 years to completely orbit its sun. According to Universe Today, the earth is 92.96 million miles from the sun, and a complete orbit only takes 365 days. Pluto, the most distant planet in our solar system, has an orbit of 3.67 billion miles away from the sun.