The core is believed to be a gas giant that was either stripped of its gaseous atmosphere or that failed to form one in its early life. .

The core, as the same size as Neptune in our solar system, has mass 2-3 times higher than Neptune, but it is also incredibly dense, with all the material that makes up that mass squashed into an object the same size.

David Armstrong from the University of Warwick Department of Physics said: “While this is an unusually massive planet, it’s a long way from the most massive we know.

But it is the most massive we know for its size, and extremely dense for something the size of Neptune, which tells us this planet has a unique history.

The fact that we don’t see those gases lets us know this is an exposed planetary core.

“This is the first time that we’ve discovered an intact exposed core of a gas giant around a star.”.