Hellish new 'Forbidden' planet discovered lurking in distant star system

The newly discovered planet has been dubbed 'The Forbidden Planet' and is almost as big as Neptune.

A new planet the size of Neptune that could vaporise you in under a second has amazed scientists because it shouldn't exist.

The exoplanet has been found in the "Neptunian Desert", an area where no planets the size of Neptune should be able to survive due to intense radiation.

However, the discovery of the "Forbidden" planet has left scientists baffled.

Neptune is almost four times bigger than Earth and the fourth largest planet in our Solar System, leaving scientists surprised an exoplanet of this size could go unnoticed and exist in such harsh conditions.

University of Warwick research leader Dr Richard West, said: "This planet must be tough, it is right in the zone where we expected Neptune-sized planets could not survive.

"It is truly remarkable that we found a transiting planet via a star dimming by less than 0.2 per cent. This has never been done before by telescopes on the ground, and it was great to find after working on this project for a year.

"We are now scouring our data to see if we can see any more planets in the Neptune Desert. Perhaps the desert is greener than was once thought."

Scientists think the Forbidden planet, now named NGTS-4b, may have moved into the Neptunian Desert zone recently or may have once been an even bigger planet that is still evaporating due to the radiation.

The new planet sits at a temperature of about 1000C.

The phrase Neptunian Desert describes an area close to stars where large planets with their own atmospheres are not expected to survive very long, as the star radiation can evaporate the gaseous atmospheres of these planets until nothing is left but rock.