Astronomers Discover Young Gas Giant WISPIT 2b in Formation Around Sun-Like Star
An international team of astronomers has identified WISPIT 2b, a gas giant planet in its early formation stages, orbiting a young star similar to the Sun, approximately 430 light-years away.
An international team of astronomers has identified a young gas giant planet, WISPIT 2b, in the early stages of formation around a star similar to the Sun, located approximately 430 light-years away in the constellation Aquila.
Estimated to be about five million years old, WISPIT 2b is comparable in size to Jupiter. The discovery was made using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
The planet was observed within a multi-ringed dust disk surrounding its host star. Dr. Christian Ginski, a lecturer at the University of Galway and second author of the study, noted that initial observations revealed an unexpected and exceptionally beautiful multi-ringed dust disk.
Further observations confirmed that WISPIT 2b is actively accreting gas, indicating that its atmosphere is still forming. The surrounding disk has a radius of approximately 380 astronomical units, about 380 times the distance between Earth and the Sun.
This discovery provides valuable insights into the early stages of planet formation and the evolution of planetary systems. The findings have been published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.