A newly discovered planet seems to have a surprisingly powerful influence on its parent star, forcing the star to rotate at exactly the same rate as the planet orbits. The planet's day is also the same length, so the pair are fixed in a face-to-face whirl. The puzzle is how this planet, called COROT-Exo-4b, could have so dominated the vastly larger star, which is bigger than our Sun." "The planet's gravity will raise tides in the fluid body of the star, which would very gradually synchronise the planet's orbit and the star's rotation – but not within the billion-year lifetime of the system. "It would take longer than the age of the universe," Aigrain told New Scientist.
