BERLIN: Baby planet bigger than Jupiter discovered, could shed light on early years of Earth

BERLIN: Astronomers have discovered one
of the youngest planets orbiting a star, which could shed new light on the
early phases of planetary evolution. Analysis of the planet could help
astronomers understand the origin of the solar system and Earth.

Scientists
estimate that the planet is a few times more massive than Jupiter and that it
formed with its star several million years ago, around the time the main
Hawaiian Islands first emerged above the ocean. The discovery has been done by
a team of astronomers led by the University of Hawaii at Mnoa faculty,
students, and alumni.

The research which was released in pre-print version
has been accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical
Society. “This serendipitous discovery adds to an elite list of planets that we
can directly observe with our telescopes,” explained lead author Eric Gaidos, a
professor in the UH Mnoa Department of Earth Sciences.

AN INFANT PLANET

Astronomers
said that the planet is so young that it is still hot from the energy released
during its formation, with a temperature similar to the lava erupting from
Klauea Volcano. “By analysing the light from this planet we can say something
about its composition, and perhaps where and how it formed in a long-vanished
disk of gas and dust around its host star,” Eric Gaidos added.

Dubbed
2M0437b, the planet was first seen with the Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea in
2018 and astronomers have been continuously analysing the planet since.
Astronomers used the Keck Observatory’s Near-Infrared Camera in combination
with the Keck II telescope’s adaptive optics system to verify that planet
2M0437b was truly a companion to the star and not
a more distant object.

“The
exquisite data from the Keck Observatory allowed us to confirm that the faint
neighbour is moving through space along with its star, and thus a true
companion. Eventually, we might even be able to measure its orbital motion
around the star,” Dr Adam Kraus, a professor in the Department of Astronomy at
the University of Texas at Austin and co-author on the paper said in a
statement.

A STELLAR NURSERY

Scientists
in a statement said that the planet and its parent star
lie in a stellar “nursery” called the Taurus Cloud and it is on a much wider orbit than the
planets in the solar system. Its current separation is about 100 times the
Earth-Sun distance, making it easier to observe. “Two of the world’s largest
telescopes, adaptive optics technology, and Maunakea’s clear skies were all
needed to make this discovery,” said co-author Michael Liu.

The star
that 2M0437b orbits is too faint to be seen with the unaided eye, but currently
from Hawaii, the young planet and other infant stars in the Taurus Cloud are
almost directly overhead in the pre-dawn hours, north of the bright star
Hokuula (Aldeberan) and east of the Makalii (Pleiades) star cluster.