Galway PhD student discovers new exoplanet

Galway PhD student discovers new exoplanet

‘Wispit 2C’ is estimated to be about 5m years-old and most likely 10-times the mass of Jupiter. Read more: Galway PhD student discovers new exoplanet

In a dusty young solar system, two giant planets are taking shape

The scene around WISPIT 2 is messy in a way that matters. Rings of dust circle the young star, gaps cut through the disc, and inside two of those openings sit giant planets still in the act of forming. For astronomers, that makes this system unusually valuable. It offers a rare look at how a planetary system comes together before the dust settles. “WISPIT 2 is the best look into our own past that we have to date,” Chloe Lawlor, a PhD student at …

Astronomy student discovers second planet around young star

An international team of astronomers, led by a PhD student at University of Galway, have made the groundbreaking discovery of a second planet in the same system where they discovered another planet last year. Detected at an early stage of formation in the disc around a young star, the young planet named WISPIT 2c is estimated to be about 5 million years-old and most likely ten times the mass of Jupiter. The star, WISPIT 2, is located in the cons…