Jupiter-Like Planet Discovered Orbiting a Young Star in Solar System Far AwayThe European Southern Observatory said the discovery as "the first clear detection of a baby planet in a disc with multiple rings"Abigail Adams
PeopleThu, August 28, 2025 at 1:03 PM EDT
3 min read
A newborn planet eating its way through its dusty cradle as it orbits its host star.
ESO/R. F. van Capelleveen et alA newborn planet eating its way through its dusty cradle as it orbits its host star.
NEED TO KNOW*A new planet, similar to Jupiter, has been found revolving around a young star in another solar system
*The planet, named WISPIT 2b, is believed to be a 5 million-year-old gas giant that is five times as large as Jupiter
*This is just the second time a confirmed planet has been detected at such an early stage of its life cycle
A Jupiter-like planet was discovered orbiting a young, sun-like star in a solar system far away.
An international team of researchers found the newborn planet, named WISPIT 2b, around what was described as "a young version of our own sun" in a press release from the University of Galway in Ireland.
Though still in early stages of development, WISPIT 2b is believed to be a 5-million-year-old gas giant that is five times as large as Jupiter.
A study about the newfound planet led by Leiden University, University of Galway and University of Arizona has been published in the international journal
Astrophysical Journal Letters.
An image of the planet was taken with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile, which the ESO said "is the first clear detection of a baby planet in a disc with multiple rings."
Dr. Christian Ginski, lecturer at the School of Natural Sciences at the University of Galway and an author of the study, believes this is a potentially ground-breaking discovery.
“Capturing an image of these forming planets has proven extremely challenging and it gives us a real chance to understand why the many thousands of older exoplanet systems out there look so diverse and so different from our own solar system,” Ginski said. “I think many of our colleagues who study planet formation will take a close look at this system in the years to come.”
WISPIT 2b was discovered during a five-year observational research project aimed at determining “whether wide orbit gas giant planets are more common around younger or older stars,” according to the University of Galway’s news release.
This is just the second time a confirmed planet has been detected at this early stage, Dr. Ginsky was part of the research team that found the first one in 2018.
“We used these really short snapshot observations of many young stars — only a few minutes per object — to determine if we could see a little dot of light next to them that is caused by a planet,” Ginski explained. “However, in the case of this star, we instead detected a completely unexpected and exceptionally beautiful multi-ringed dust disk.”
He continued, “When we saw this multi-ringed disk for the first time, we knew we had to try and see if we could detect a planet within it, so we quickly asked for follow-up observations.”
This discovery is "an important step forward in our understanding of how planets form," according to the ESO, which added, "It also reinforces the idea that gaps can be created by newly formed planets — a prediction only made in theory that has now been verified observationally. "
Ginski co-authored the findings with three graduate students who specialize in astrophysics at the University of Galway. The study was led by Richelle van Capelleveen, an early career PhD student from Leiden University, and was co-led by a graduate student team at the University of Galway.
“Discovering this planet was an amazing experience — we were incredibly lucky,” said van Capelleveen in a statement, later adding, “This system will likely be a benchmark for years to come.”
Ginski said, “We were so fortunate to have these incredible young researchers on the case. This is the next generation of astrophysicists who I am sure will make more breakthrough discoveries in the years to come.”
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