James Webb Just Detected a Planet That Shouldn't Exist Where It Formed

James Webb has confirmed a cold giant planet orbiting a white dwarf where models said a planet should not survive. This episode explains WD1856b, the forbidden zone around dead stars, the TESS transit, Webb's infrared detection, and what it could mean for the future of our solar system. 00:00 The planet around a dead star 01:03 James Webb confirms WD1856b 01:59 What a white dwarf is 02:33 Red giants and the death of Sun-like stars 03:20 Why white dwarfs are so dense 03:50 The forbidden zone around dead stars 04:35 Why previous evidence showed destruction 05:23 TESS finds a huge transit shadow 06:38 Ground telescopes and Spitzer follow up 07:12 A planet-sized object in the forbidden zone 07:29 Why mass mattered 08:53 Why Webb was needed 10:40 Webb sees the planet's own heat 12:08 The coldest directly detected exoplanet 12:34 Temperature reveals the mass 13:45 Webb confirms a true planet 14:14 Why it could not have formed there 17:46 Companion stars may have dragged it inward 18:27 Planet scattering after stellar death 19:08 The common-envelope survival idea 20:03 How Webb can test the explanations 21:10 What this means for our solar system 25:16 White dwarfs as places to search for life 27:05 What Webb still has not told us 28:03 Why the old rule changed