Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery around a young star 440 light-years away, potentially witnessing a planet come into existence in real time. The infant exoplanet, located in the protoplanetary disk of the 10 million-year-old star HD 135344B, is creating a complex spiral arm pattern.
The discovery was made using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and its Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph ERIS instrument. The team estimates that this budding planet is around twice as large as Jupiter, orbiting at a similar distance to Neptune’s orbit around the sun.
As the potential planet carves channels into the protoplanetary disk, it gathers material to facilitate its growth. This process may lead to intricate structures like rings and spirals, similar to those in our solar system.
The study marks a significant breakthrough in understanding how planetary systems form. “We will never witness the formation of Earth,” said Francesco Maio, study team leader, “but here, around this young star, we may be watching a planet come into existence in real time.” The research was published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics and provides new insights into the early stages of planetary formation.
Source: https://www.space.com/astronomy/exoplanets/what-are-these-strange-swirls-around-an-infant-star-we-may-be-watching-a-planet-come-into-existence-in-real-time