A massive, Jupiter-like planet has been discovered orbiting a young, sun-like star in a distant solar system.
The newly identified planet, named WISPIT 2b, was found by an international team of researchers and described as a “young version of our own sun,” according to a press release from the University of Galway in Ireland.
Scientists believe WISPIT 2b is a gas giant about five times the size of Jupiter and roughly 5 million years old — still in the early stages of its development.
The discovery was detailed in a study led by Leiden University, the University of Galway, and the University of Arizona, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile, astronomers captured an image of the planet — what the ESO called “the first clear detection of a baby planet in a disc with multiple rings.”
Dr. Christian Ginski, a lecturer at the University of Galway’s School of Natural Sciences and co-author of the study, said the finding could be transformative.
“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.”
The discovery was part of a five-year research project exploring whether gas giant planets in wide orbits are more common around younger or older stars, according to the University of Galway’s news release.
This marks only the second time a confirmed planet has been observed at such an early stage. Ginski was also part of the team that made the first detection back in 2018.
He explained that the team initially used short snapshot observations of young stars — “only a few minutes per object” — to see if a small dot of light might reveal a planet. But instead, they uncovered “a completely unexpected and exceptionally beautiful multi-ringed dust disk.”
“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,” Ginski said.
According to the ESO, the finding represents “an important step forward in our understanding of how planets form” and confirms a long-held theory that gaps in these disks can be created by newly formed planets.
The study was co-authored by Ginski and three graduate students in astrophysics at the University of Galway. It was led by Richelle van Capelleveen, a PhD student at Leiden University, with additional contributions from graduate researchers at Galway.
“Discovering this planet was an amazing experience — we were incredibly lucky,” van Capelleveen said. “This system will likely be a benchmark for years to come.”
Ginski added that the contributions of young researchers were vital to the breakthrough. “This is the next generation of astrophysicists who I am sure will make more discoveries in the years to come,” he said.
