Scientists spot red-hot baby planets being formed around an alien star

Researchers from the US and Australia have for the first time captured images of baby planets being formed around a distant, sun-like star system, according to new research published in the November 18 online edition of the journal Nature.

Steph Sallum and Kate Follette from the University of Arizona, Professor Peter Tuthill from the University of Sydney, and their colleagues spotted the telltale signs of gas and dust accumulating into a new planet around LkCa 15—a star located 450 light years from Earth.

According to Mashable, the study authors discovered what appears to be at least one new planet (LkCa 15b) approximately the same size as Jupiter or Saturn forming around the star while using the Earth-based Large Binocular Telescope and the Magellan Adaptive Optics System.

Furthermore, it is likely that there are multiple worlds currently forming around the star, which would make them the first of the 1,900-plus confirmed exoplanets to be directly observed while they form, the study authors explained in a statement.

Red-hot baby planet making action 

In an interview with Mashable, Sallum said that they had spotted at least two planets, adding that there may be a third as well. By studying these soon-to-be new exoplanets, her team hopes that they can solve some of the longstanding mysteries surrounding how worlds like Earth form.

“This is the first time we’ve imaged a planet that is definitely still in the process of forming,” co-author Professor Tuthill added, noting that the images provided unambiguous photographic proof of what they had witnessed. “The difficulty had been that when you have indirect evidence, there are always alternate explanations that might fit the data.”

Those pictures were obtained thanks largely to atmospheric turbulence—the mixing of hot and cold air that that causes stars to shimmer. The LBT, which was specifically built to use novel techniques to sharpen the image, first spotted the activity. The Magellan optics system later independently verified the discovery by finding the specific wavelength of light that planets such as LkCa 15 emit as they grow (its ‘hydrogen alpha’ spectral fingerprint).

Cosmic objects become extremely hot as they form, and since they form from hydrogen, each of them give off a deep red-colored glow known as hydrogen alpha. Both the forming planet and its star were found to be emitting that particular glow, Follette explained, allowing them “to see that they both growing and glowing in this very distinct shade of red.”

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Feature Image: NASA/JPL-CALTECH