space Paradigm Challenge

We found a giant planet orbiting a star that’s nearly as old as the entire universe.

March 30, 2026

Original Paper

TOI-7169 b: A Hot Jupiter Transiting a Metal-Poor Star

Joshua D. Simon, Joseph E. Rodriguez, Jhon Yana Galarza, David W. Latham, Victoria DiTomasso, Karen A. Collins, Jack Schulte, Anirudh Chiti, Samuel N. Quinn, Mohammad K. Mardini, Shubham Kanodia, Johanna K. Teske, Peter S. Ferguson, Samuel W. Yee, T. G. Tan, Khalid Alsubai, Khalid Barkaoui, Zouhair Benkhaldoun, Krzysztof Bernacki, Jaikrit Bhattacharya, Jerome P. de Leon, Sarah J. Deveny, Mark E. Everett, Izuru Fukuda, Akihiko Fukui, Michael Gillon, Arvind F. Gupta, Steve B. Howell, Emmanuel Jehin, Gaia Lacedelli, Adam Lark, Colin Littlefield, Felipe Murgas, Norio Narita, Enric Palle, Hannu Parviainen, Adam Popowicz, Richard P. Schwarz, Avi Shporer, Abderahmane Soubkiou, Francis P. Wilkin

arXiv · 2603.25787

The Takeaway

It was long believed that the early universe lacked the heavy elements needed to build giant planets, requiring several generations of stars to 'cook' those materials first. This discovery proves that massive planets could form even in the universe's most primitive, metal-poor environments.

From the abstract

Most known planets are found around metal-rich host stars, which has made it difficult to determine whether a lower metallicity limit for planet formation exists and how the properties of planets born in low-metallicity environments may differ from those with metal-rich origins. We present the discovery and characterization of TOI-7169 b (TIC 372048733 b), a hot Jupiter that is orbiting a spectroscopically-confirmed metal-poor ([Fe/H] = -0.72 +/- 0.05) host star. Based on photometry from TESS an

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