Witness the birth of the planet

Chilean astronomers said that for the first time they observed directly a planet picturing inside a disk of gas and thick dust at the star system 335 light years away.

Using an extremely large telescope from the Southern European Observatory (ESO) in Paranal, a group of international experts studied the disk of gas and dust around the young star HD 100546 , about 335 light-years from Earth.

A disc of gas discovered around the young star HD 100546 - (Photo: ESA)

Under the human eye, the image is like a blob surrounded by gas and dust, but astronomers say it is the image of birth of a giant gas planet.

Experts estimate that the planetary embryo will continue to collect materials from gas and dust disks for more than 1 million years, before becoming a planet like Jupiter.

According to the project leader, Sascha Quanz, planet formation has so far been the subject of discussion on computer models. If the discovery is indeed a process of planetary birth, this will be the first time scientists can study this process in practice.

Previously, another giant planet was also discovered how the central star is about 6 times more distant from Earth to the sun.

This research has been published in the latest issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.