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      HONOLULU (AP) — Astronomers have captured the first direct image
of a planet being born.


      Adam Kraus, of the University of Hawaii's Institute for
Astronomy, said the planet is being formed out of dust and gas
circling a 2-milion-year-old star about 450 light years from Earth.


      The planet itself, based on scientific models of how planets
form, is estimated to have started taking shape about 50,000 to
100,000 years ago.


      Called LkCa 15 b, it's the youngest planet ever observed. The
previous record holder was about five times older.


      Kraus and his colleague, Michael Ireland from Macquarie
University and the Australian Astronomical Observatory, used Keck
telescopes on Mauna Kea to find the planet.


      "We're catching this object at the perfect time. We see this
young star, it has a disc around it that planets are probably
forming out of and we see something right in the middle of a gap in
the disc," Kraus said in a telephone interview.


      Kraus presented the discovery Wednesday at NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center in Maryland. Kraus and Ireland's research paper on
the discovery is due to appear in The Astrophysical Journal.


      Observing planets while they're forming can help scientists
answer questions like whether planets form early in the life of a
star or later, and whether they form relatively close to stars or
farther away.


      Planets can change orbits after forming, so it's difficult to
answer such questions by studying older planets.


      "These very basic questions of when and where are best answered
when you can actually see the planet forming, as the process is
happening right now," Kraus said.


      Other planets may also be forming around the same star. Kraus
said he'll continue to observe the star and hopefully will see
other planets if there are in fact more.


      Scientists hadn't been able to see such young planets before
because the bright light of the stars they're orbiting outshines
them.


      Kraus and Ireland used two techniques to overcome this obstacle.


      One method, which is also used by other astronomers, was to
change the shape of their mirror to remove light distortions
created by the Earth's atmosphere.


      The other, unique method they used was to put masks over most of
the telescope mirror. The combination of these two techniques
allowed the astronomers to obtain high-resolution images that let
them see the faint planet next to the bright star.


      The astronomers found the planet while surveying 150 young dusty
stars. This led to a more concentrated study of a dozen stars.


      The star LkCa 15 - the planet is named after its star - was the
team's second target. They immediately knew they were seeing
something new, so they gathered more data on the star a year later.

Gallery

Science

Astronomers have captured the first direct image
of a planet being born. The planet itself, based on scientific models of how planets form, is estimated to have started taking shape about 50,000 to
100,000 years ago.

Hawaii astronomer captures image of forming planet

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