HOW HD 106906 B GOT ITS ORBIT

1 FORMATION

To start with, the planet was probably quite close to the central stars, perhaps three times as far as Earth is from the Sun. Drag forces from dust and gas would have caused it to spiral even further inwards.

2 SCATTERING

The big difference between this system and our own is the presence of not one but two stars. Their gravitational forces conspired to fling the planet outwards when it got close to them.

3 STABILISATION

The planet might have been ejected, ending up in interstellar space, but something happened to stabilise its present far-out orbit. This may have been an encounter with another star that passed by.