Super Jupiters Expose a Long-Standing Space Mystery

JWST observations of the HR 8799 system suggest its super-Jupiter planets may have formed by rapid disk collapse, not slow core accretion.

The atmospheric data from these massive exoplanets better match gravitational instability, a star-like formation pathway.

The results challenge a long-standing theory of giant planet formation and sharpen the line between gas giants and brown dwarfs.