Astronomers discover newly-formed planet with mass similar to Jupiter | Watch Video

 

Video Credit: ESO/Hammond et al.

Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, a team of international astronomers have discovered a newly-formed planet with a mass similar to Jupiter's orbiting the star HD 169142.

Using VLT's SPHERE instrument, astronomers monitored the system for many years. Recently, a team led by Iain Hammond from Monash University in Australia re-examined the data which confirmed the existence of a protoplanet that orbits the star at a distance greater than Neptune's orbit around the Sun. 

Similarly to a boat creating a wake as it moves through water, the researchers also detected a spiral disturbance in the disc caused by the protoplanet as it reorganizes the surrounding material.

According to ESO, a protoplanet forms during the early stages of a planetary system and grows by accreting dust, gas, rocks, and other materials that surround its host star. As it grows, it clears its orbit and creates gaps such as the one observed in this case.

The study of the spiral wake and the gap created by the protoplanet around the star HD 169142 can provide valuable insights into the formation of giant planets like Jupiter.

1/ A new planet is born! This Picture of the Week shows a young Jupiter-mass planet around the star HD 169142, observed with the SPHERE instrument at our VLT. The first image shows how the planet has carved a gap in the disc around the star. 📷 @ESO /Hammond et al. pic.twitter.com/9SoYV40xbz

— ESO (@ESO) April 24, 2023

SPHERE, short for Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch, is an extreme adaptive optics system and coronagraphic facility at VLT. The SPHERE instrument's key science goal is imaging, low-resolution spectroscopic, and polarimetric characterization of extra-solar planetary systems at optical and near-infrared wavelengths.