A planet forming around the young star HD 135344B, as seen using ESO's Very Large Telescope (left), and a combined image from the VLT and ALMA radio antenna (right). (Image credit: ESO/F. Maio et al./T. Stolker et al./ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/N. van der Marel et al.)
At the center of a rotating disk of gas and dust surrounding the star HD 135344B, a young planet appears to be forming complex spiral arms around its star. This is the first time a planet has been detected inside a dust spiral actively shaping its environment.
According to NASA, the discovery provides further evidence that the building blocks of planets form from protoplanetary disks – huge rings of gas and dust that orbit young stars.
These dense, rotating clouds of material seen around young stars have been noted to have rings and spirals likely caused by young planets, but this is the first direct evidence. Moreover, the prominent protoplanetary disk around HD 135344B's parent star has already been observed by astronomers using the SPHERE (Spectropolarimetric High-Contrast Exoplanet Investigation) instrument on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile.
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