Scientists have discovered an exoplanet that has disappeared from view

For seven years, astronomers have been observing a distant planet that regularly passed in front of its star and briefly obscured its light. But gradually these eclipses became shorter and fainter, and in 2026 they disappeared altogether. The planet did not collapse or leave its system: its orbit changed under the influence of the gravity of a neighboring object. Scientists believe that this is the first time they have observed such a rapid change in the position of an exoplanet. About why the celestial body disappeared from the field of view of telescopes and when it will be possible to see it again — in the material of Izvestia.

How astronomers discovered the disappearing planet

We are talking about the exoplanet TOI-2535 b, located about 1,000 light-years from Earth. This is the so—called hot Jupiter, a gas giant that orbits very close to its star. One revolution around it takes only 8.25 Earth days. For comparison, Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, takes 88 days.

The observations of TOI-2535 b turned out to be unusual. Its passage in front of the star did not correspond to the expected schedule: deviations reached six hours. In addition, over time, the transits became shorter and less noticeable. In 2026, the telescope stopped recording them at all.

Researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles and their colleagues analyzed the observational data and built a model of the movement of celestial bodies in the system. The results of the work are published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters (AJL). Calculations have shown that the disappearance of transits can be explained by the gravitational influence of another planet, which has not yet been directly detected.

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Why did the planet stop passing in front of its star

According to scientists, there is another planet next to TOI-2535 b, whose orbit is inclined relative to the orbit of the first object. Gravity causes celestial bodies to influence each other: their orbits gradually change direction in space and begin to oscillate like the axis of a spinning top.

Because of this, TOI-2535 b gradually stopped passing exactly between its star and the Earth. The planet continues to orbit the sun, but its transits are no longer visible to observers from our planet. Thus, the disappearance did not happen to the celestial body itself, but to its characteristic signal, by which astronomers could track its movement.

According to him, the discovered system became the most extreme of the known examples of such an interaction: the planet's orbit is changing so fast that astronomers were able to observe the disappearance of transits directly during long-term observations.

How is the disappearance of an exoplanet related to solar eclipses

The mechanism that explains the disappearance of TOI-2535 b is somewhat similar to the conditions of solar eclipses on Earth. The moon orbits our planet in an orbit inclined relative to the plane of the Earth's motion around the Sun. Therefore, the satellite does not cover the sun's disk every month: for an eclipse, it is necessary that the Sun, Earth and Moon are in line.

According to the scientist, the tilt of the Moon's orbit is associated with the turbulent history of its formation, including the collision of the early Earth with a large celestial body. In the case of TOI-2535 b, a similar geometry is observed: the mutual gravitational influence of the planets changes the position of their orbits, which makes transits possible only during certain periods.

The researchers calculated that TOI-2535 b will pass in front of its star again from the point of view of an Earth observer in 30-50 years. Her yet-to-be-discovered neighbor may become noticeable sooner. This will allow us to verify the assumptions of scientists and study in more detail the mutual motion of the planets.

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What the disappearing planet revealed about the origin of hot Jupiters

The discovery may help to understand the origin of hot Jupiters. Existing models suggest that such planets form at a much greater distance from the sun, where there is enough matter and ice for their growth. Therefore, scientists are trying to figure out how they subsequently end up in close orbits.

The researchers consider two main scenarios. According to the first one, a planet gets an elongated orbit after a strong gravitational interaction or a rendezvous with another object. Then the impact of the star gradually changes its motion, and the celestial body turns out to be closer to the luminary. The second option assumes that the planet is slowly moving inside the system along with other objects in the protoplanetary disk, a cloud of gas and dust from which planets are formed.

In this case, the second scenario usually assumes a more even structure of the system, without significant inclinations between the orbits. The presence of TOI-2535 b's close neighbor and pronounced changes in its orbit may indicate a more complex history of interaction between celestial bodies.

Thus, the vanished transits may become not only evidence of an unusual gravitational interaction, but also a clue about how hot Jupiters end up next to their stars. Further observations of the system will help test this hypothesis and possibly discover a planet that remains hidden from telescopes for now.