Scientists have previously detected transiting planets around stars aged 10–40 million years, but younger planets have not been observed, possibly due to incomplete formation or interference from surrounding protoplanetary disks.
Madyson Barber and colleagues, using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, studied a 3-million-year-old star, IRAS 04125+2902, located 160 parsecs away. The star’s outer protoplanetary disk is misaligned and viewed almost face-on, with a depleted inner disk allowing them to observe the transiting protoplanet IRAS 04125+2902 b.
A giant planet orbits a star with an orbital period of 8.83 days, a radius 10.7 times larger than Earth, and approximately 30% of the mass of Jupiter. This is the youngest transiting planet found to date.
Scientists suggest that the planet could be a precursor of the super-Earth and sub-Neptune planets frequently found orbiting main-sequence stars.
The authors propose that the young age of the star and planet, the unusual disk misalignment, and the system’s proximity to Earth make it an excellent target for studying the early stages of planet formation.
Journal Reference:
- Barber, M.G., Mann, A.W., Vanderburg, A., et al. A giant planet transiting a 3-Myr protostar with a misaligned disk. Nature 635, 574–577 (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08123-3
