Key Takeaways:
- An international team discovered a new planet, WISPIT 2b, orbiting the young star WISPIT 2 in the constellation Aquila.
- The planet, estimated to be approximately 5 million years old, is a likely gas giant similar in size to Jupiter and was detected using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT).
- WISPIT 2b is only the second confirmed planet detected at such an early stage of formation around a young Sun-like star and the first unambiguous detection within a multi-ringed dust disk.
- The planet's detection in both near-infrared and visible light indicates ongoing gas accretion during atmospheric formation, making the system a valuable resource for studying planet-disk interaction and planetary system evolution.
An international team of astronomers has made the unexpected discovery of a new planet. Detected at an early stage of formation around a young Sun-like star, the planet is estimated to be about 5 million years old and most likely a gas giant of similar to Jupiter.
The study, Wide Separation Planets in Time (WISPIT), which was led by Leiden University, the University of Galway, and the University of Arizona, has been published in the international journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The instrument used by the team is part of one of the world’s most advanced observatories — the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in the Atacama Desert in Chile. The new planet has been named WISPIT 2b because it orbits the star WISPIT 2, which lies in the constellation Aquila the Eagle.
Finding new worlds
Christian Ginski, lecturer at the School of Natural Sciences, University of Galway, and second author of the study, said, “We used these really short snapshot observations of many young stars — only a few minutes per object — to determine if we could see a little dot of light next to them that is caused by a planet. However, in the case of this star, we instead detected a completely unexpected and exceptionally beautiful multi-ringed dust disk. When we saw this multi-ringed disk for the first time, we knew we had to try and see if we could detect a planet within it, so we quickly asked for follow-up observations.”
It is only the second time a confirmed planet has been detected at this early evolutionary stage around a young Sun-like star. WISPIT 2b is also the first unambiguous planet detection in a multi-ringed disk, making it the ideal laboratory to study planet-disk interaction and how the system will evolve. The planet was captured in near-infrared light — the type of light that night-vision goggles register.
The planet was also detected in visible light by a team from the University of Arizona using a specially designed instrument. This detection shows that the planet is still actively gathering gas as it’s forming its atmosphere.
From dust it came
Dust- and gas-rich disks around young stars are planetary nurseries. They can have many different structures such as rings and spiral arms, which researchers believe are related to planets forming within them. The disk around WISPIT 2b has a radius of 380 astronomical units — about 380 times the distance between Earth and the Sun.
Ginski added, “Capturing an image of these forming planets has proven extremely challenging and it gives us a real chance to understand why the many thousands of older exoplanet systems out there look so diverse and so different from our own solar system. I think many of our colleagues who study planet formation will take a close look at this system in the years to come.”
The study was led by an early career PhD student, Richelle van Capelleveen from Leiden University. When asked about finding the new world, van Capelleveen said, “Discovering this planet was an amazing experience — we were incredibly lucky. WISPIT 2, a young version of our Sun, is located in a little-studied group of young stars, and we did not expect to find such a spectacular system. This system will likely be a benchmark for years to come.”
