Astronomers discover giant planet in the process of formation

Astronomers have discovered an extremely young giant planet named Elias 2-24 b in the process of formation and embedded within the gas and dust disk surrounding its host star.

Discovery of the Planet

The young planet, known as Elias 2-24 b, resides embedded within the gas and dust disk surrounding its host star. The extreme youth of the planet forces researchers to rethink how quickly massive planets can form.

Model Challenges

Lucas Cieza, a professor at the Institute for Astrophysical Studies in Chile, noted that planet formation models struggle to explain systems holding the previous record for the youngest planet. Cieza stated that certain critical processes are missing from current models.

Archival Reviews

Hidden within a dusty disk, the planet was examined in a study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters and led by Andrea Bernardi. The research analyzed archived observations gathered using a coronagraph at the W. M. Keck Observatory.

Disk Characteristics

Each star is surrounded by a debris disk filled with dust, gas, ice, and rocky materials. Astronomers searched for clues pointing to planet formation through gaps and other patterns in these disks.

Jupiter Mass

While Elias 2-24 b has roughly the mass of Jupiter, its host star is located approximately 450 light-years away from Earth. The system offers an opportunity to study conditions that may resemble our solar system as it was billions of years ago.

Past Observations

Previous observations from ALMA in Chile revealed a gap within the dusty disk. Meanwhile, the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope detected a faint point of light inside that same gap.

Orbital Evidence

The team found the same faint source in Keck data collected in 2018 and 2020. Tracking how the object moved over time, the researchers determined that it is a planet in orbit rather than a background star.