Music In 2008, Hubble astronomers announced the discovery of a new exoplanet, one orbiting the nearby star Fomalhaut. Dubbed "Fomalhaut b," the new world orbited inside a ring of dusty debris and was claimed as the first exoplanet directly observed in visible light. Recently, several teams of astronomers have questioned that Fomalhaut b is a planet at all. The most damaging study, in early 2012, was the failure to detect the young planet's heat. Fomalhaut b.....was gone. Now, it's back. A new analysis of 2004 and 2006 images taken by Hubble brings Fomalhaut b back to planetary status and suggests that it may be a rare type of exoplanet. The object seems to be moving at the right speed and direction to explain the ring's properties, including its position offset from the star. A dust cloud wouldn't survive long on its own, unless it was anchored to a planet. And the failure to detect Fomalhaut b in the infrared merely indicates that the planet is smaller than originally thought, less than twice Jupiter's mass. Another team used Hubble to observe the system again this year, and those results are expected to be published soon. So keep your children close, Fomalhaut b, the zombie planet, roams around its host star once more. Music and hum Music and hum Music and hum Music