The planet seen swirling in life for the first time

Even by astronomical standards, it is a discovery that is out of this world.

Scientists for the first time witnessed the birth of a planet, a gigantic gaseous giant several times the size of Jupiter, which swirled 370 light-years away from Earth.

The theory of how gaseous planets form from a vortex of hydrogen and helium molecules, captivated by their own gravity, is now widely accepted by scientists.

Yesterday, scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Astronomy (MPIA) in Heidelberg and the SPHERE instruments consortium of the Very Large Telescope of the Southern European Observatory (ESO) at Chile have released a spectacular image of birth.

The planet, currently known as PDS 70b, is shown in orbit around a huge protoplanetary disk of gas and dust, which proves that it continues to accumulate matter. and so it is not yet fully formed.

The newborn is found in a 5.4 million year old solar system, orbiting a star called PDS 70 at a distance of 3 billion kilometers.

The planet stands out clearly in the image, visible as a bright spot to the right of the blackened center.

The dark region in the center of the image is due to a coronagraph, a mask that blocks the blinding light. of the central star and allows astronomers to detect the dim light of the planet.

These discs around the young stars are the birthplaces of the planets, but until now, only a handful of observations have detected clues of small planets. Irish Independent