In a major yet surprising turn of events, astronomers have recently discovered a newborn planet orbiting around a young star.
In a study published in the journal Nature, astronomers reveal the discovery of the youngest transiting planet ever found.
At about three million years old, it is considered an infant in cosmic terms. If we made a comparison, Earth would be 50 years old and this planet would be equivalent to just two weeks of age.
The planet, called both IRAS 04125+2902 b and TIDYE-1b—orbits a star that is expected to become an orange dwarf, situated approximately 520 light-years from Earth.
It completes an orbit every 8.8 days and the planet’s mass is between that of Earth and Neptune, with a lower density than Earth but a diameter roughly 11 times larger.
The discovery was made by Madyson Barber, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
While, this discovery is not her first, she earlier discovered three planets.
She tells ABC News’ Julia Jacobo, “This is definitely our biggest one, because it’s the youngest transiting system. There’s so much we can learn by looking outwards to learn more about our own home and where we come from and where we might be going.”
Barber discovered evidence of the distant planet during a transit, a phenomenon where a planet passes between a star and an observer.
This is a common method for finding exoplanets. Barber noticed “slight dips” in the star’s light, indicating the presence of a planet.
However, this discovery was unexpected because the star is very young and such planets are usually not seen around stars of that age.
