First Direct Image of Protoplanet Swirling Surrounding Gas

What happened

Now, an international team of researchers just announced a remarkable discovery that could change how astronomers understand planetary formation and evolution. Until now, researchers have been limited to visualizing the swirling gas and dust forming planets through computer models.

This discovery involves the first direct image of a planet forming in a swirling ball of gas and dust, also called a protoplanet. Their discovery, which is discussed in a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, focused on the protoplanets WISPIT 2b, which is re located about 430 light-years from Earth, is estimated to be about five times as massive as Jupiter, and was directly imaged using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observatory in northern Chile. A companion protoplanet, WISPIT 2c, orbits interior of WISPIT 2b at 15 astronomical units (AU) and is estimated to be 8 to 12 Jupiter masses, while WISPIT 2b is located about 57 AU from its host star.

Key facts

• Now, an international team of researchers just — announced: a remarkable discovery that could change how astronomers understand planetary formation and evolution