Ryan A. Rubenzahl

Two planets around the star TOI-4495 perform a stumbling dance: while the inner one completes two laps, the outer manages just one. But the rhythm is off — the inner planet speeds up and slows down, like a partner stumbling in her steps. Using the transit method, watching as the planets briefly dim the star's light, astronomers weighed these worlds.

A planet's orbit is its path around its star. If the path is perfectly circular, the planet always stays at the same distance from the star. But many planets have slightly stretched paths, like a running track in a stadium. Astronomers studied hundreds of giant planets around other stars and found a curious pattern.