Newly found planet WISPIT 2b offers a rare glimpse at early planetary formation
An international team of astronomers, co-led by researchers at University of Galway, has made the unexpected discovery of a new planet.
Detected at an early stage of formation around a young analog of our own Sun, the planet is estimated to be about 5 million years-old and most likely a gas giant of similar size to Jupiter.
The study, which was led by Leiden University, University of Galway and University of Arizona, has been published in the international journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The ground-breaking discovery was made using one of the world’s most advanced observatories - the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in the Atacama Desert in Chile.
The 'gas giant' has been named WISPIT 2b.
Lecturer at the School of Natural Sciences in University of Galway, Dr Christian Ginski says despite being five-million-years-old, it's considered to be a 'young' planet:
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