Astronomers have discovered a Jupiter-like planet with one of the strangest orbits ever observed. This exoplanet not only follows one of the most stretched orbits of any known transiting exoplanet, but also orbits its trailing star. This animation shows the orbit relative to the orbits of Mercury and Earth. It's called TIC 241249530 b and was spotted using the Wynn Telescope at NSF's Kitt Peak National Observatory – a program of the NSF Noir Lab. This extreme orbit would cause temperatures on the planet to vary between those of a summer day and temperatures high enough to melt titanium.
Images and videos: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/KPNO/R. Proctor/J. da Silva/Spaceengine/M. Zamani/ESO/L. Calçada/Mr. Kornmesser/N. Bartmann

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