It’s kind of amazing that we have really only been in the planet finding business since 1995. From barely being able to detect worlds from how they move their stars, we have now evolved our technology to be able to directly image planets. In new data from the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii researchers caught sight of the youngest planet directly imaged to date. 

Dubbed 2M0437, this planet is about 100 times the Earth-Sun distance from its star, and researchers estimate that it is a few times bigger than Jupiter. According to lead author Eric Gaidos: By analyzing 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.

More Information

Keck Observatory press release

“Zodiacal Exoplanets in Time (ZEIT) XII: A Directly-Imaged Planetary-Mass Companion to a Young Taurus M Dwarf Star,” E Gaidos et al., 2021 October 26, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society