The fat researchers from centers from various countries, in the “Astrophysical Journal Letters”, reported an extraordinary discovery. According to scientists, they detected the planet located at a very early stage of forming, encircling the star of the same type as our sun. The marked facility Wispit 2b is a gas giant with sizes similar to Jupiter.
The discovery was made using one of the most modern observatories in the world – ESO VERY LARGE TEXCOPE (VLT), as part of a five -year research project, during which it was tried to determine whether gas giants on wide orbits are more common around younger or older stars.
– We used very short, snapshot observations of many young stars – just a few minutes for the object – to see if we can see a small dot next to them. However, in the case of this star we have detected something completely unexpected – an extremely beautiful, multi -dust disk – says one scientists, Dr. Christian Ginski from the University of Galway. – When we saw this multi -line disk for the first time, we knew that we had to check if we could detect the planet in it. So we quickly asked for further observations.
The planet circulates around the sun
As researchers emphasize, it is only a second time when the planet's detection was confirmed at such an early stage of evolution, circulating around the young version of our sun. The first was discovered in 2018, and he also did it by a research team with Dr. Ginski.
The planet was captured in close infrared because it is still hot after the initial phase of forming. The team registered a spectacular, clear picture of a young planet embedded during a break in a protoplanetary disk.
The planet was also registered in visible light, and its analysis indicates that the planet still actively attracts gas, forming its atmosphere.
Experts talk about “extraordinary discovery”
Experts explain that dust and gas discs around young stars are the cradle of planets. They can look extremely effective, with many different structures, such as rings or spiral arms, the existence of which is associated with the process of forming planets inside these disks.
The disk around Wispit 2b has a radius of 380 astronomical units, i.e. it is about 380 times larger than the distance between Earth and the Sun.
– This planet is an amazing discovery. I almost couldn't believe it was really a real detection when Dr. Ginski first showed me captured images. It is a really large object – it will certainly evoke a discussion in the scientific environment and broaden our understanding of the process of planets – says one of the scientists.
