Cosmic tug of war: Planet 1,000 light-years from Earth has suddenly vanished

A planet that was observed many times passing in front of its star has mysteriously vanished from sight. Astronomers have a theory for what could be going on, although they cannot be sure about it either. Located 1,000 light-years away from Earth is TOI-2535 b, which has become the first known "disappearing planet." Researchers from UCLA announced on Monday that telescopes captured the planet quite a few times in the past before it disappeared right in front of their eyes. Where did it go?

Scientists believe that the planet has not actually gone anywhere and something tugging on it has altered its orbit. So it is no longer visible where it was seen all this time. Another planet in the system could be exerting an extremely powerful gravitational force on TOI-2535 b, causing it to seemingly vanish from our view. The finding was detailed in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

TOI-2535 b is a "hot Jupiter", meaning it is large and it is hot. It orbits extremely close to its star, completing one orbit in just 8.25 days. In comparison, it takes Mercury 88 days to orbit the Sun once.

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A planet that shied away from our view

Scientists at UCLA observed the planet using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, between April 2019 and March 2026. It was seen passing in front of its Sun for a long time. Gradually, its movements became erratic. Sometimes it didn't appear for several hours from its scheduled time, and at times it made an early entry.

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The crossings became fainter, and this year, they completely vanished. Samuel Yee, a UCLA postdoctoral fellow and the study’s corresponding author, says it is possible for "multiple planets in a system" to "affect each other’s orbit", and this seems to be the case with TOI-2535 b. There is likely another planet there which has never been seen, and its gravitational pull is causing TOI-2535 b’s orbit to wobble. The tilted orbit means that the planet no longer passes between its star and Earth, and this explains the disappearance.

"This is the most extreme example we’ve seen because the two planets are interacting so strongly," Yee said. "The planet’s orbit is tilting so quickly that its transit disappeared while we were watching."

TOI-2535 b's orbit will continue to shift in the coming years, and slowly it will once again return to view. However, this will not happen for approximately 30 to 50 years. On the contrary, its partner planet that is pulling on it might become visible soon.

Scientists are planning to use the findings to explain why some giant planets orbit so close to their stars. They are trying to decipher whether that happens from violent gravitational encounters or is a gradual movement. “Because TOI-2535 b has a close neighbour, it probably migrated by slowly spiralling in instead of getting flung in,” Yee said.