Astronomers make unexpected discovery of planet in formation around a young star
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 3-Sep-2025 06:11 ET (3-Sep-2025 10:11 GMT/UTC)
An international team of astronomers, co-led by researchers at University of Galway, has made the unexpected discovery of a new planet.
Detected at an early stage of formation around a young analog of our own Sun, the planet is estimated to be about 5 million years-old and most likely a gas giant of similar size to Jupiter.
Scientists have devised a new method for mapping the spottiness of distant stars by using observations from NASA missions of orbiting planets crossing their stars’ faces. The model builds on a technique researchers have used for decades to study star spots. By improving astronomers’ understanding of spotty stars, the new model — called StarryStarryProcess — can help discover more about planetary atmospheres and potential habitability using data from telescopes like NASA’s upcoming Pandora mission.
Key takeaways:
— Astronomers at UC Santa Cruz have developed a new model to better understand “steam worlds,” or water-rich sub-Neptunes – some of the most common planets in the universe.
— These planets are too hot for surface oceans and are thought to have atmospheres consisting of exotic phases of water. They are also 10 to 100 times more massive than the icy moons in our solar system that have historically served as models.
— The James Webb Space Telescope has already detected steam on several sub-Neptunes, and the new models will help scientists interpret what telescopes observe from the atmospheric data collected.
Researchers at Beijing Institute of Technology have experimentally demonstrated anomalous topological pumping in hyperbolic lattices - a phenomenon impossible in conventional materials and Euclidean structures. Published in Science Bulletin, this work reveals how these curved-space structures can simulate high-dimensional quantum physics while exhibiting unique boundary-dependent transport.