Subaru Telescope Spots a Planet in Formation
MKOs Combine to Observe the Ruins of an Ancient Star Cluster
January 7, 2022
Image of the star AB Aurigae taken by the Subaru Telescope showing the spiral arms in the disk and the newly-discovered protoplanet AB Aur b. The bright central star has been masked, and its location is indicated by the star mark (☆). The size of Neptune’s orbit in the Solar System is shown to provide scale. The Image without caption is here (0.7 MB). (Credit: T. Currie/Subaru Telescope)
Using the Subaru telescope on Maunakea, astronomers have discovered a Jupiter-like planet in the process of being formed in another solar system. This ground-breaking experiment provides evidence for a long-debated alternative theory for how Jupiter-like planets form.
Read more, in the Subaru Telescope web release.
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Discovery image of the planet 2M0437, which lies about 100 times the Earth-Sun distance from its parent star. The image was taken with IRCS on the Subaru Telescope. The much-brighter host star has been mostly removed, and the four "spikes" are artifacts produced by the optics of the telescope. (Credit: University of Hawai`i)