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This photo of the SPHERE instrument on the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory is the first sharp image of a planet taken in flagrante delicto de formation, around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet is clearly visible as a bright spot to the right of the center, which is obscured by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the. star.
Source: A. Müller et al./ESO
Astonishment, First- A photo of this kind shows a huge new extraterrestrial world taking shape in the disc of gas and dust surrounding a young star.
The picture is the first direct observation confirmed of an exoplanet so young, according to members of the Discovery Team. 19659005] "These discs around the young stars are the birthplaces of the planets, but until now only a handful of observations have detected clues of baby planets," said Miriam Keppler, leader of the planet. Max Planck Institute of Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany. in a report. "The problem is that, until now, most of these candidates on the planet might just have been features in the disc." [Gallery: The Strangest Alien Planets]
Keppler and his colleagues analyzed new and archival observations of a young dwarf star called PDS 70, which is about 5.4 million years old and is 370 light years away. Earth. These data were collected by two instruments on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory and an instrument at the Gemini Observatory of Hawaii
Observations revealed the presence of 39, a newborn gaseous giant in the surrounding protoplanetary disk. And the team was able to photograph the extraterrestrial world, known as PDS 70b, using one of two VLT instruments, which is called SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-Contrast Exoplanet Research).
SPHERE features a coronagraph, which blocks the blinding light of a star, making it possible to solve planets in orbit. (The Gemini instrument, the near-infrared coronagraphic imager, has one as well.)
The researchers' analyzes suggest that the PDS 70b is two to three times larger than Jupiter and is about 3 billions of kilometers from its star – about as far as Uranus is from the sun.
PDS 70b is much hotter than any planet in our solar system, recording a sizzling 1800 degrees Fahrenheit (1000 degrees Celsius), the researchers determined. This high temperature may seem strange considering the planet's significant distance from its star, but it is in line with that of other newborn gas giants, team members said. ;study. (The extremely young planets retain a lot of warmth since their formation.)
This image shows the sky around the pale orange dwarf star PDS 70 (in the middle of the image). The bright blue star on the right is χ Centauri.
Source: ESO / Digitized Sky Survey 2. Recognition: Davide De Martin
Researchers report the discovery of PDS 70b and its measured and inferred characteristics in a new pair. Both studies were published online today (July 2) in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. (You can read them here and here.) (The research teams are not identical for both studies, but there is considerable overlap. For example, Keppler is the lead author of the discovery paper and the second author of the companion study.)
"Keppler's findings give us a new window on the complex and poorly understood early stages of global evolution," said Andre Müller, lead author of the second study, in the same press release.
"We needed to observe a planet in the disc of a young star to really understand the processes of planet formation," adds Müller, also based at the Max Planck Institute of # 39; Astronomy.
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us on @Spacedotcom Facebook or Google+. Originally posted on Space.com.
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