A ‘tiny’ exoplanet, equivalent to a 2-week-old baby, is the youngest alien world ever observed – and it orbits an uncertain star

New research suggests that a “young” exoplanet recently discovered relatively close to Earth is the youngest alien world ever seen. Scientists say this rare observation has been linked to a mysteriously unstable planetary disk around the exoplanet’s host star.

The newly discovered exoplanet, known as IRAS 04125+2902 b or TIDYE-1b, is a light gas giant with a diameter slightly smaller than Jupiterbut about 0.4 times the mass solar systemthe largest planet. It orbits a protostar – a young star that is still growing to its final size – located in Taurus molecular cloud approximately 520 light-years from Earth and makes one revolution around the protostar every 8.8 days.

Given the age of the protostar, which currently has a mass of about 70% that of our Sun, TIDYE-1b may be only up to 3 million years old – about 1,500 times younger than Earth. If you compare the current age of the exoplanet with the lifespan of a human, it would be a two-week-old baby, the scientists wrote in their paper. statement.

Scientists described the small exoplanet in a new study published Nov. 20 in the journal Nature. The exoplanet was first spotted in data collected by NASAA Transiting Exoplanet Survey (TESS) satellite that constantly flies in front of its host star.

“Discovering planets like this allows us to go back in time and see the process of planet formation as it happens,” the study’s lead author Madison Hairdresser– said the graduate of the University of Carolina (UNC) in Chapel Hill in a statement. “(It) helps us discover our place in the universe — where we come from and where we might be going.”

An artist's interpretation of a planetary disk rotating around a star

Young exoplanets are usually hidden from us by the spinning protoplanetary disks surrounding protostars. (Image: ESO)

Exoplanets are usually only visible when they are over 10 million years old, because until then they are obscured by protoplanetary disks – the so-called swirling rings of dust, gas and other planetary building blocks where exoplanets are formed. But even then, only a dozen exoplanets less than 40 million years old have been discovered.

However, in this case, TIDYE-1b is not obscured by the star’s protoplanetary disk.

“Planets usually form from a flat disk of dust and gas, which is why the planets in our solar system are arranged in a pattern that resembles a flat pancake” – co-author of the study Andrew Mann– said a planetary scientist from UNC Chapel Hill in a statement. “But here the disk is tilted and incorrectly aligned with both the planet and its star – a surprising twist that challenges our current understanding of how planets form.” The disk is believed to be offset from the star by about 60 degrees, Mann added another statement.

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Researchers are not sure why the disk is misaligned or why TIDYE-1b is not on the disk. One possible explanation is that the disk was moved out of place by a companion star that orbits the protostar at a distance of about 635 astronomical units (635 times the distance between Earth and the Sun). However, this may be unlikely given the distance of the companion star, the scientists wrote.

The discovery helps fill in gaps in how different worlds are created. For example, experts believe it took 10 to 20 million years for Earth to fully form, while gas giants like TIDYE-1b appear to take much less time to form. But there is still much to learn.

Scientists plan to conduct further studies of the young world to assess whether it continues to accrete material from the disk, how its atmosphere compares to the surrounding disk material, and whether it is losing its upper atmosphere to the influence of its host star.