For the first time, astronomers have directly observed the birth of a planet using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. The phenomenon, likened to a “cosmic sculptor” carving intricate patterns into a disk of gas and dust around a young star, reveals a nascent planet twice Jupiter’s size. Located 440 light-years away, the planet orbits its host star at a distance comparable to Neptune’s from our Sun.
The discovery stems from an international study led by Italy’s National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) and the University of Florence, with contributions from the Universities of Bologna and Milan, and INAF branches in Padua and Bologna. Published in *Astronomy & Astrophysics*, the research pinpoints the protoplanet at the base of a spiral arm within the stellar disk—precisely where theories predicted such formations occur.
Francesco Maio of the University of Florence and INAF Arcetri, who headed the study, emphasized the significance: “While we can’t witness Earth’s formation, here we observe a planet’s birth in real time.” He added that directly detecting the protoplanet’s light while deeply embedded in the disk provides “unprecedented confidence” in its existence, marking a potential turning point in astrophysics.