Astronomers have detected new planets before, but rarely this young or this easy to observe. As reports , a team led by the University of Hawaii has discovered 2M0437b, one of the youngest planets ever discovered at just a few "millions of years old."
The young planet was found in the «kindergarten» of the Taurus constellation and is so young that it continues to emit heat in the form of lava from its birth.
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Importantly, it also represents a very rare opportunity to directly observe an “infant world.” Researchers will still need to use special optics to compensate for Earth, but they won’t need to use a host star or other tricks to study the young planet. It helps that 2M0437b is about a hundred times farther from its star than Earth is from the Sun, reducing the chances of interference.
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Scientists first detected the planet in 2018, using the Subaru, but spent the next three years using the Keck Observatory and other telescopes in Hawaii to track the planet and confirm that it was connected to its host.
Future observations could shed more light on planetary formation. It may not take much longer to gather more details. The team hopes that the upcoming James Webb could help detect atmospheric gases and newly formed moons.
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Αυτό σημαίνει ότι όσο σημαντικός κι αν είναι τώρα ο 2M0437b, θα μπορούσε να γίνει ακόμα πιο σημαντικός στο μέλλον.
