Overview

• Using ESO’s VLT X-shooter, astronomers measured Cha 1107-7626 accreting about 6 billion tonnes of gas and dust per second by August 2025, roughly eight times its rate a few months earlier.
• The free-floating object is estimated at 5–10 times Jupiter’s mass, lies about 620 light-years away in Chamaeleon, and is only 1–2 million years old.
• Comparisons of light before and during the burst reveal signs of strong magnetic fields channeling infalling material, a behavior previously seen in young stars.
• JWST observations detected water vapor in the surrounding disk during the burst but not beforehand, marking the first such chemical change documented for a planet.
• The findings, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters with supporting JWST and archival VLT data, support the view that some rogue planets form like stars and set up targets for future studies with facilities including ESO’s ELT.