Simulations explore how stellar encounters could reshape growing planets

A new modelling study examines how a close encounter between young stars could change the material available for planet formation.

Researchers from Nanjing University and the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory used hydrodynamic simulations to investigate a low-mass star capturing gas and dust from a neighbouring disk. The captured material could form a secondary disk around the star.

In the proposed scenario, a planet initially comparable in mass to Earth could gain enough gas to become a giant. The work offers a possible formation pathway for unusual planetary systems. It is a simulation-based explanation, not an observation of Earth or another known rocky planet transforming into a gas giant.