A team of astronomers led by researcher Sascha Quanz of the Zurich Federal Institute of Technology reported what they think to be the birth of a
new planet some 335 light years away. It might be developing into a planet similar to Jupiter
in our solar system, with all the cloud of gas and dust out there.
Planet formation till
now had been only studied or visualised through computer simulations. The observation
of this planet’s birth supports the formation of planet by picking up dust and
leftover gas from the formation of a star. The researchers were humble enough to consider to be able to find every resource in place at the right time to observe this spectacular phenomenon.
The team of six
scientists conducted its observations using the European Southern Observatory’s
Very Large Telescope (VLT). The VLT is the world’s most advanced visible-light
telescope and is located in Chile’s Atacama desert.
They will continue observing the formation
of this planet using every possible technique once the findings are confirmed. The
new born star that might have resulted in the birth of this planet has been
named HD100546. The planet is believes to be 70 times far away from the star
when compared to earth’s distance from the sun. HD100546 is also believed to be
orbited by another large planet.
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