Galway PhD Student Leads Discovery of Second Planet in Young Star System
Chloe Lawlor, a PhD student at the University of Galway, has led an international team to discover WISPIT 2c, the second planet identified around the young star WISPIT 2.
An international team of astronomers, led by University of Galway PhD student Chloe Lawlor, has discovered a second planet orbiting the young star WISPIT 2, located approximately 430 light-years from Earth. This new planet, designated WISPIT 2c, is a gas giant estimated to be around ten times the mass of Jupiter. It orbits its host star four times closer than the previously identified WISPIT 2b, making detection with ground-based telescopes particularly challenging.
The discovery was made using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) in Chile's Atacama Desert. WISPIT 2c is approximately five million years old, placing it in the early stages of planetary formation. Its proximity to the host star and its substantial mass provide valuable insights into the processes of planet formation and evolution.
Lawlor, in her second year of doctoral studies at the Centre for Astronomy at the University of Galway, previously contributed to the discovery of WISPIT 2b in August 2025. Reflecting on the significance of the find, she noted that the youth of the planet means it still possesses its protoplanetary disk—a rotating disk of dense gas and dust surrounding a newborn star from which planets form. This characteristic offers a unique opportunity to study the early stages of planetary development.
The findings have been published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. Lawlor expressed her desire to continue in research, aiming for a lecturing position upon completion of her PhD.