First time capturing the moment a newborn planet is 'born'

Astronomers have captured an unprecedented image: a planet outside our solar system is being… born. This is the first time humanity has caught a 'planetary baby' in the void of a cosmic dust disk.

Image of exoplanet WISPIT 2 and the dust disk surrounding its host star. Data captured by ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in the near-infrared - Credit: C. Ginski/R. van Capelleveen

Astronomers have captured an unprecedented image of an extrasolar planet in the process of being born. The discovery confirms a long-held theory that the dark voids between giant rings of gas and dust around young stars are indeed where baby planets form.

The main character this time is WISPIT 2b, a "baby planet" located in the gap of the gas and dust disk surrounding the star WISPIT 2, a star quite similar to the Sun. If the dust disk is a giant donut, WISPIT 2b is the dough growing right in the donut hole, both lovely and full of promise.

To “catch” this moment, the research team led by Professor Laird Close (University of Arizona) and PhD student Richelle van Capelleveen (Leiden Observatory, Netherlands) used the MagAO-X adaptive optics system on the Magellan telescope in Chile, combined with data from the Giant Twin telescope in Arizona and the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile.

The MagAO-X instrument is particularly sensitive to hydrogen alpha light, the light that occurs when hydrogen gas crashes into the surface of a growing planet and turns into super-hot plasma. This revealed a tiny dot of light right in the gap between the two dust rings: WISPIT 2b.

In addition, the team also discovered another candidate planet, tentatively called CC1, located closer to the star.

According to measurements, WISPIT 2b has a mass about five times that of Jupiter, while CC1 is nine times heavier. The star WISPIT 2 also has a mass similar to the Sun.

This scene, according to graduate student Gabriel Weible, is probably similar to when we took “baby pictures” of Jupiter and Saturn 4.5 billion years ago, except this version is ten times larger.

The discovery is particularly important because scientists have previously only seen dark voids in the disk and assumed they were dug out by young planets, but have never had direct evidence. That’s why Professor Close calls this a “big deal,” a firm confirmation that protoplanets, early planets, can indeed create voids in the disk.

The WISPIT 2 system appears to have at least two planets, four dust rings, and four voids, making it look like a multi-layered cake in outer space. CC1 is roughly the distance between Saturn and Uranus in the Solar System, while WISPIT 2b is very far away, equivalent to the orbit of Neptune, near the edge of the Kuiper Belt.

Van Capelleveen said seeing a planet in its “baby” state is extremely rare, because it is only when it is young that it is bright enough to be observed. If WISPIT 2 were as old as the Sun, the entire star system would be too dark and cold to detect with current technology.

In a nutshell, we’ve just captured a “baby snapshot” of a new world growing up somewhere far away. It’s not just a scientific triumph, but also a precious snapshot that proves the universe is still busy birthing new planets, and sometimes, we’re lucky enough to witness it.

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MINH HAI

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/lan-dau-tien-chup-duoc-khoanh-khac-mot-hanh-tinh-so-sinh-ra-doi-20250919145325734.htm