Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) may have caught a planet in the act of forming around the young star HD 135344B, about 440 light-years away. The planet candidate, estimated at twice Jupiter’s size, appears to be shaping striking spiral arms in the star’s protoplanetary disc – the first direct detection of its kind.
The findings, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, provide rare insight into how planets emerge and influence their environments.
Read the full ESO press release
Image: A planet candidate around the star HD 135344B Credit: ESO/F. Maio et al./T. Stolker et al./ ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/N. van der Marel et al.