Astronomers Confirm Youngest Known Exoplanet, Less Than a Million Years Old
The planet is less than 1 million years old and was confirmed through archival Keck data and follow-up telescope observations, researchers said.
- Astronomers confirmed Elias 2-24 b as the youngest known planet, orbiting the star Elias 2-24 about 450 light-years away. This Jupiter-size world is less than 1 million years old.
- Existing models predicted that assembling a Jupiter-size planet takes at least 5 million years, making this discovery challenge current theories. Professor Lucas Cieza, at the Instituto de Estudios Astrofísicos in Chile, noted previous record holders were all at least 5 million years old.
- By analyzing Keck Observatory Archive data from 2018 and 2020, Andrea Bernardi, a doctoral candidate at the Universidad Diego Portales, led a team that confirmed the object's movement. Bernardi said, "confirmation was possible only by using multiple telescopes together."
- Defying previous predictions, the planet orbits 55 times farther from its star than Earth is from the Sun. This finding suggests current planet-formation models are missing important processes.
- NASA coronagraph scientist Vanessa Bailey said the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will improve detection of faint worlds. The instrument aims to see planets 10 million to 100 million times fainter than their stars.
53 Articles
53 Articles
The finding has been made possible by the analysis of observations that remained stored in NASA-funded files
About as massive as Jupiter, the newly discovered exoplanet, Elias 2-24 b, is a true "big baby. Despite its size, Elias 2-24 b is by far the youngest planet...
Astronomers have confirmed the existence of Elias 2-24 b, a planet less than 1 million years old that has become considered the youngest known so far. With mass approximately that of Jupiter, the object is still in the process of formation and remains within the gas and dust disk that surrounds its star, Elias 2-24, located about 450 light-years from Earth. Want to live away? See interactive guide that gathers information about 36 countries Want…
A planet roughly as massive as Jupiter was already growing around Elias 2-24 before the system reached one million years old—even though current models require about five million years to build a Jupiter at Jupiter’s distance, and this planet sits roughly ten times farther out.
Keck archive data confirm a still-growing planet in the 55-AU gap around Elias 2-24, but its 1.9-to-4.0-Jupiter-mass estimate remains model-dependent.
NASA astronomers discover youngest planet ever found
There’s a brand-new infant in the cosmic nursery, and it is officially breaking all the records as we know them. Astronomers using data from NASA-funded archives have confirmed the existence of a world called Elias 2-24 b. Coming in at less than one million years old, this new giant is the youngest exoplanet ever detected, […] Read the original article here: NASA astronomers discover youngest planet ever found
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 38% of the sources lean Left, 38% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
