Posted on by Scott Alan Johnston

Astronomers Find a 3 Million Year Old Planet

An artistic interpretation of the IRAS 04125+2902 (TIDYE-1) system. Young stars like this are covered in starspots—regions cooler than the surrounding stellar surface. The inner disk is depleted, leaving an intact outer disk that forms a donut-like structure around the host star. The outer disk is nearly face-on, in contrast to the edge-on planet orbit around the host star. This allows for an unobstructed view of the system. If the disk were also edge-on, it would block the planet and host star, preventing the discovery. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt, K. Miller (Caltech/IPAC)

Astronomers have just found one of the youngest planets ever. At only 3 million years old, planet TIDYE-1b (also known as IRAS 04125+2902 b) is practically in its infancy. By comparison, Earth is 4.5 billion years old: that’s 1500 times older. The discovery of a planet this young can teach scientists a lot about the early stages of planet formation, and the peculiarities of this particular one have scientists re-evaluating their models of planetary birth.

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