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New planet is the youngest ever discovered
Observing the skies from their two-telescope observatory in Hawaii, scientists Adam Kraus and Michael Ireland have discovered a planet in formation or a “proto-planet” in the scientific lingo. Their findings, published in the ‘Astrophysical Journal’, show that at only 50,000 to 100,000 years old, the planet is the youngest ever discovered. The earlier record holder is at least five times older. Named LkCa 15 b, it orbits a nascent star only two million years old. This new discovery opens the doors to answer some “very basic questions of when and where” of planet formation. The newly discovered planet is some 450 light years from the earth and is of Jupiter’s size.
Just like the Jupiter, it is gaseous and still “in the process of formation” according to Adam Kraus. The planet was discovered through an interferometry technique called ‘aperture mask interferometry.’ Interferometry techniques involve making two or more light waves interact in order to extract more information from their combination that they would individually reveal.
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