Youngest known exoplanet discovered orbiting within its birth disk
Astronomers have identified Elias 2-24 b, a newly formed planet still embedded in its natal dust and gas disk, using the Keck Observatory's coronagraph.
The planet, named Elias 2-24 b, was observed by graduate researcher Andrea Bernardi and her team at Universidad Diego Portales with the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. Lucas Cieza, a professor at the Instituto de Estudios Astrofísicos, said the finding challenges existing planetary formation models, which have struggled to explain previously known young planets. The discovery highlights gaps in current theories about how planets emerge from protoplanetary disks.
Why it matters
The discovery reveals gaps in planetary formation theories, prompting revisions to models of how planets develop.
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