A team of astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) array in southern Chile has witnessed a newly forming planet actively carving out what they describe as “intricate patterns” in the disc of gas and dust surrounding its host star.
The study’s lead author Francesco Maio, a doctoral researcher at the University of Florence, Italy, explained that although humans will never directly observe Earth’s formation, “we may be watching a planet come into existence in real time.”
If confirmed, the discovery could provide researchers an unprecedented glimpse into the dynamics that potentially helped form Earth and other planetary bodies.
ESO’s Very Large Telescope Spots a Cosmic First
In a statement announcing the discovery, Maio and colleagues note that scientists have previously spotted protoplanetary discs of gas and dust that accrete to form planets and moons surrounding their host stars. In many cases, these discs contain intricate patterns including spirals, rings, and other varying empty gaps. Although most planetary models suggest these intricate patterns are caused by nascent protoplanets “sweeping up” material as they grow, the team said they have never caught one of these “planetary sculptors” in the act, until now.
Previous studies had spotted the disc around star HD 135344B. The swirling spiral arms within that disc had also previously been detected by a different research team using the VLT’s SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch). Still, that effort, along with others scanning the star, had not detected evidence of a nascent, forming planet in its orbit.
In the latest study, the team reviewed the previous VLT data and new information gathered by the facility’s Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS) instrument. When comparing the information, they spotted a previously undiscovered mass at the right base of one of the spiral arm intricate patterns.
The team said that finding the planet in this location was significant, as their theories had predicted the exact location for a theoretical planet capable of carving intricate patterns in the star’s disc. Maio, who is based at the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory, a centre of Italy’s National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), said the detection is a significant first due to the nature of the collected data.
“What makes this detection potentially a turning point is that, unlike many previous observations, we are able to directly detect the signal of the protoplanet, which is still highly embedded in the disc,” the astronomer said. “This gives us a much higher level of confidence in the planet’s existence, as we’re observing the planet’s own light.”
A follow-up analysis of the data provided both a size and orbit estimate for the protoplanet. According to the statement, the space body carving intricate patterns into its host star’s disc is twice the mass of Jupiter and as far from its host as Neptune is from the sun.
The paper “Unveiling a protoplanet candidate embedded in the HD 135344B disk with VLT/ERIS” was published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.