A new image of a world wrapped in Jupiter-like gas and dust is a direct image of what could be the youngest planet ever seen, astronomers report.
The gas giant infant named LkCa 15 b, orbiting a solar-like star 450 light-years away in the north of the constellation Taurus.
The planet orbits inside a disk of material around the star that has over two million years. Instead, astronomers estimate that our solar system is 4.6 billion years.
The big baby planet may be up to six times the mass of Jupiter, according to the theory based on the calculations, and it seems that orbits 11 times farther from its star than Earth is from our Sun
The new image was made in the near infrared, but "the world could see a dark red to our eyes, as it still shines with the warmth of being formadose" said Adam Kraus, author of the study and an astronomer at the University of Hawaii.
The light is separated from the light
Kraus and his colleagues focused on the young star on the basis of previous observations that showed a significant difference in the disk of the star around the rubble.
These lakes are believed to be telltale signs that large planets newly formed circles within the disk-to the severity of the protoplanet that clears a wide swath of gas and dust that accumulates on the subject.
"I just had to find a way to distinguish the planet from its star very weak very bright."
For this, the team returned to the Keck II 10 meter telescope at the top delMauna Kea in Hawaii.
First, a deformable mirror of the telescope was able to correct the distortions in the reflected starlight caused by Earth's atmosphere.
The team used a small mask with several holes that are placed on the light-collecting mirror, a method called interferometry aperture mask. This technique allowed the team to block light from the parent star during capture faint light of the disk and its embedded planet.
Observation of Planet Birth in Action
Kraus and his team plan to continue observing LkCa 15 b, so they can realize their temperature and orbital characteristics, such as shape and orientation of its path around the star.
The team also hopes to expand the search to other stars that are around the disks with gaps and perhaps begin to answer some basic questions about early planet formation.
"We've been looking for this kind of planet for several years, in particular, because we know that the observation of planet formation in action, tell us much about how it really works," said Kraus.
"My first reaction was finally going to tell us how planets form in reality!" ADS HERE
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