The boundary between stars and planets has proven ambiguous, but a link has been discovered between the formation of stars and planets in systems
In 2024, astrophysicist Stephen Giacalone discovered a brown dwarf that appeared to have formed through core accretion, making it, in effect, the largest planet ever to have existed. Forming planets are now known to encounter turbulent conditions in their solar systems. A new observation in 2026 provides compelling evidence of how the first generation of stars in dwarf galaxies died, chemically enriching their successors.