University of Arizona researchers have published a paper announcing the discovery of a giant planet they think may be generating spiral arms to an infant solar system.
The lead author said astronomers have looked for young and forming planets for more than a decade, but most searches turned up empty.
One of the world’s most sensitive infrared telescopes, located on Arizona’s Mount Graham, provided the first ever look at the planet with a star roughly 500 light-years away.
The star is surrounded by a disc of gas and dust, which the UA's Kevin Wagner said can gravitationally sculpt a planet.
“That’s what’s going on with this one. It has these two beautiful spiral arms and they pointed right where we found a planet," Wagner said.
Now named MWC 758c, Wagner said the system the planet belongs to is an analogy for how our own solar system looked less than 1% into its lifetime.
