‘Baby picture’ of solar system: Astronomers photograph planet in formation

​​​​​​​By Beril Canakci

ISTANBUL (AA) - Astronomers have photographed for the first time a growing planet embedded in a dark gap of a dusty, multi-ringed disk around a young star -- offering rare evidence of how giant planets form.

“Dozens of theory papers have been written about these observed disk gaps being caused by protoplanets, but no one’s ever found a definitive one until today,” said astronomer Laird Close. “Now we know that in fact, they can.”

The discovery, announced Wednesday by the University of Arizona, was made by an international team led by the school’s Close and Richelle van Capelleveen of Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands.

"This is like getting a baby picture of our own solar system,” said Gabriel Weible, a University of Arizona graduate student who contributed to the research.

WISPIT 2b is estimated to be about five times the mass of Jupiter and sits 56 astronomical units from its star -- about twice the distance of Neptune from the sun. The inner candidate planet, CC1, may be about nine Jupiter masses.

Researchers said the system provides a glimpse into what Jupiter and Saturn may have looked like when they were still forming billions of years ago.

The findings mark a breakthrough in a long-standing debate about whether dark gaps in planet-forming disks are carved by planets or by other forces.​​​​​​​