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Not as a confirmed finding. A 2026 simulation study suggests that planets could form in the dusty outer regions of disks around supermassive black holes, but no such planets have been observed. The result is a model prediction, and it should be read that way.
What the study actually modeled
The paper, “Active Galactic Nucleus Tori: Potential Birthplace to Millions of Planets,” was written by Bhupendra Mishra, Wladimir Lyra, Barry McKernan, Mordecai-Mark Mac Low, K. E. Saavik Ford, and Harrison E. Cook. It was submitted to arXiv on May 19, 2026, and is marked as accepted in The Astrophysical Journal. The authors examined whether the outer parts of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) disk, the dusty material feeding a supermassive black hole, could support the early steps of planet formation.
That setting differs from the familiar case. Most planet formation models describe a young star surrounded by a protoplanetary disk. The AGN case replaces the star with a supermassive black hole and its surrounding torus of gas and dust. To keep the disk from fragmenting under its own gravity, the authors used a recently proposed strongly magnetized disk model.
The key thermal argument is stated in the abstract: “The outer regions of AGN disks have temperatures similar to those of circumstellar disks, permitting dust condensation.” That condition is what allows solid material to form in the first place.
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How the proposed formation sequence works
According to the paper’s model, planet-sized bodies would arise through four linked processes:
- Dust coagulation. Tiny grains stick together and grow into larger solid particles.
- Streaming instability. The interaction between solids and gas concentrates particles into dense filaments.
- Planetesimal collapse. The filaments become gravitationally unstable and collapse into planetesimals, kilometer-scale bodies that are the building blocks of larger objects.
- Accretion. The planetesimals grow by pebble accretion, while gas accretion also occurs at the same time.
Each step is modeled, not observed. The sequence is the same family of processes thought to build planets around ordinary stars, applied to a very different environment.
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The numbers, and what they do and do not mean
The abstract reports several quantities. Each one describes a model output, and each should be attributed to Mishra et al. (2026).
| Quantity | What the abstract gives | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Predicted planetesimal population | Tens of millions of planetesimals, with masses from Earth-mass to super-Jupiter | A predicted outcome for collapsing dust filaments in modeled AGN tori. It is not a census of any real black hole. |
| Mass-doubling time | 103 to 107 years | A range for modeled growth. The abstract notes that 3D Hill and geometric accretion regimes occur in some cases. |
| Dust in the filaments | An estimate in solar masses | The abstract’s estimate of filament content, not a measured mass in any observed AGN. The exact figure is not stated in the secondary coverage. |
The paper’s title uses the word “millions,” while the abstract’s headline number is tens of millions of planetesimals. The two describe the same modeled population at different levels of detail: the title speaks of planets, and the abstract counts the smaller bodies that the model would produce first.
Are these objects really planets?
The model does not limit its outcomes to planetary masses. The paper says some modeled objects may grow to stellar masses, which would make AGN tori a possible core-accretion route to star formation. It also predicts exotic objects above the hydrogen-burning limit that would form directly from dust. A single label therefore does not describe every predicted body.
Secondary coverage by EarthSky reports that some reviewers objected to calling these objects planets and that the informal term “blanet” was suggested. That term is not established in the scientific literature. The primary abstract uses “planets” in its title and discusses planetesimals and stellar-mass outcomes in its body. For clarity, “predicted planetesimals” or “modeled bodies” is more precise than “planets” for most of the population.
Could we detect them?
No detection has been reported. EarthSky discusses three methods that could in principle be used: radial velocity, which measures the wobble a companion induces in its host; transits, which detect a dip in brightness when a body crosses in front of its host; and gravitational microlensing, which uses a foreground mass to magnify light from a background source. EarthSky also explains that the AGN environment creates obstacles for each approach.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchThese are ideas from secondary reporting, not validated techniques for finding this population. The primary abstract makes no claim of detection.
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What is established and what is not
- Established as a model result: dust condensation, coagulation, streaming instability, and pebble accretion can, under the paper’s assumptions, produce large populations of solid bodies in the outer regions of AGN tori.
- Not established: that any planet, planetesimal, or stellar-mass object has been found in an AGN torus.
- Dependent on assumptions: the results rely on the strongly magnetized disk model that keeps the disk gravitationally stable.
- Reported informally, not adopted: the term “blanet.”
The practical reading is that the study gives theorists a testable formation pathway for a new class of objects. It does not change any observational catalog of planets.
Sources: Mishra et al., “Active Galactic Nucleus Tori: Potential Birthplace to Millions of Planets,” arXiv record, submitted May 19, 2026, accepted in The Astrophysical Journal. Secondary coverage: Paul Scott Anderson, “Black holes could have planets, new simulations suggest,” EarthSky, October 8, 2026.
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