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Taking Shape
Featured on July 2, 2018
A newly forming planet highlights this new image of PDS 70, a young star that is surounded by a disk of gas and dust. The star itself has been blacked out to allow astronomers to see other components of the system. That has revealed the planet, which is the bright blob to the lower right of center. The planet appears to be several times the mass of Jupiter, the giant of our own solar system, with an atmosphere that's topped by clouds. It has carved a dark region in the dust disk as it orbits the star. The image was obtained by the Very Large Telescope in Chile. [ESO/A. Müller et al.]
