ABQ Times

Astronomers have discovered a young planetary system with a warped disk, allowing them to observe a planet just three million years old. Planet-forming disks emerge from the conservation of angular momentum when molecular clouds collapse to form stars. As these clouds spin faster during collapse, they flatten into disk shapes, forming planets over approximately 10 million years. After this period, the disk material dissipates, leaving behind mature planetary systems.

Due to these lengthy timescales, astronomers cannot track a single planet through various developmental stages. Instead, they piece together the life story of planets from snapshots of different systems observed at varying ages. Typically, in systems younger than a few million years, only the protoplanetary disk is visible as it obscures the planets. In contrast, most fully formed exoplanets are detected in systems billions of years old where the disk has disappeared.

The artistic interpretation of system IRAS 04125+2902b shows that while the planet's orbit aligns with its host star’s rotation, the outer disk is warped by about 60 degrees. This unexpected arrangement led to the discovery of the planet. The research titled “A giant planet transiting a 3Myr protostar with a misaligned disk” was published in Nature and featured on NASA's Discovery page. It was led by Madyson Barber and Andrew Mann from the University of North Carolina, with contributions from Diana Dragomir of the University of New Mexico's Department of Physics & Astronomy.

Located in the Taurus-Auriga Molecular Cloud—a stellar nursery housing hundreds of newly-formed stars—this three million-year-old infant planet is now considered the youngest transiting planet ever detected. The host star still retains its protoplanetary disk, distinguishing it from other known planetary systems.

“This planet is unique because, while it is just three million years old and the disk within which it formed is still present, that disk is misaligned with the orbit of the planet, allowing us an unexpected peek at this 'toddler' planet itself,” explained UNM Department of Physics & Astronomy Associate Professor Diana Dragomir. “This rare gem of a system will undoubtedly be studied with many kinds of telescopes to answer questions about what planets are like at this very young age.”

Previously considered nearly impossible to detect due to their age and alignment issues with their disks and orbits, systems like this challenge current theories regarding planet formation timescales and their relationship with parent disks. This discovery provides an opportunity for further study shortly after its formation.

The University of New Mexico supported this research.