NASA claims to have photographed evidence of a Jupiter-like planet-forming using its Hubble Space Telescope.
The experts have described it as an “intense and violent process,” according to NASA. The astonishing discovery will shed light on current planetary formation theories. The planet is still in the womb, according to the news agency Reuters.
Such claims about a planet’s creation are nothing new. However, the latest discovery backs up a long-debated idea termed “disk instability” for how planets like Jupiter develop.
As per NASA, the newly discovered world is contained in a protoplanetary ring of dust and gas with a characteristic spiral pattern revolving around a young star.
The star is likely to be around two million years old. It corresponds to the age of our solar system at the time of planet creation. It’s worth noting that the solar system is 4.6 billion years old right now.
A gas giant orbiting unusually far from its young host star was discovered by scientists. Planets that are mainly hydrogen and helium, with whirling gases surrounding a tiny solid core, are gas giants.
Researchers employed the Subaru Telescope which is near the summit of an inactive Hawaiian volcano. They also used the Hubble Space Telescope, which is orbiting the planet.
Nature is clever
Astrophysicist Thayne Currie of the Subaru Telescope and the NASA-Ames Research Center, said, “We think it is still very early on in its ‘birthing’ process. Evidence suggests that this is the earliest stage of formation ever observed for a gas giant.”
“Nature is clever; it can produce planets in a range of different ways,” said Currie. Currie is also the lead author of the study which the journal Nature Astronomy published on Monday (April 4).
According to scientists, the newly formed planet, known as AB Aurigae b, is likely nine times more massive than Jupiter.
At a distance of 8.6 billion miles, AB Aurigae b orbits its host star. That’s more than twice as far as Pluto is from the Sun.
Scientists have discovered exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, according to existing data.
Only one other star has likewise been discovered with planets in the process of development, known as protoplanets.
NASA says understanding the early stages of the development of Jupiter-like planets gives astronomers a better grasp of our own solar system’s past.
NASA also highlighted that “This discovery paves the way for future studies of the chemical make-up of protoplanetary disks like AB Aurigae, including with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.”
