Astronomers have photographed the youngest exoplanet ever found, spotting the alien world as it is still forming out of the dusty disk around its parent star, a new study reports.
Researchers used Hawaii’s Keck Observatory to capture the first direct images of a planet in the process of forming around its star. The newly born object, which astronomers are calling LkCa 15 b, appears to be a hot “protoplanet” that is sucking up a surrounding swath of cooler dust and gas.
The new images from Keck reveal that the alien planet sits in a wide gap between its host star and an outer disk of dust, the researchers said.
Astronomers Spot Birth Of Alien Planet for First Time
by Mike Wall, SPACE.com Senior Writer
19 October 2011
http://www.space.com/13328-youngest-alien-planet-exoplanet-formation.html
Astronomers have photographed the youngest exoplanet ever found, spotting the alien world as it is still forming out of the dusty disk around its parent star, a new study reports.
Researchers used Hawaii’s Keck Observatory to capture the first direct images of a planet in the process of forming around its star. The newly born object, which astronomers are calling LkCa 15 b, appears to be a hot “protoplanet” that is sucking up a surrounding swath of cooler dust and gas.
The new images from Keck reveal that the alien planet sits in a wide gap between its host star and an outer disk of dust, the researchers said.