'Monster' planet found circling small star

WARWICK, BRITAIN — Research led by the University of Warwick has led to the discovery of a giant planet located 600 light years from Earth.

Named NGTS-1b, the celestial body is a gas giant around the same size Jupiter. It orbits a star half the size of the Sun.

NGTS-1b orbits the star at 3% of the distance between Earth and the sun. As such, it holds a temperature of 530 degrees centigrade and orbit its star every 2.6 days.

Researchers say this is the largest planet compared to the size of its companion star ever discovered.

The discovery challenges "formation theory" which posits smaller stars can only form rocky planets, not gas giants.

The findings are set to be reported in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.