For the first time, astronomers believe they’ve caught a planet forming in real time. Around a young star known as HD 135344B located 440 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius, something extraordinary is happening. A swirl of gas and dust surrounding the star—known as a protoplanetary disk—appears to be sculpted by an unseen force. Thanks to the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and its powerful ERIS instrument, we now have strong evidence that a planet is emerging right before our eyes.
This is a big deal. Observing a planet as it forms gives scientists an unprecedented opportunity to witness the same kind of process that might have created Earth billions of years ago. Until now, our understanding of planet formation has been shaped by theory, simulations, and scattered observations of disk structures. But now, we’re stepping into the realm of direct observation—and that changes everything.
HD 135344B: The Star at the Center
HD 135344B isn’t exactly newborn—it’s about 10 million years old—but in cosmic terms, that’s still a baby. Our own Sun is about 4.6 billion years old, so this star is practically in its infancy. It belongs to a star-forming region known as Scorpius OB2-3, a rich nursery filled with stellar activity and swirling disks of raw material.
Around this young star is a disk of gas and dust that stretches out for hundreds of astronomical units. It’s in this disk that astronomers have detected spiral arms, structures that have long puzzled researchers. What could be shaping them? For years, they suspected planets were to blame—but until now, they had never found one in the act of shaping a spiral.
How the Discovery Happened
Using the Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS) on the VLT in Chile, astronomers zoomed in on the disk with incredible precision. ERIS works in the infrared, which allows it to pierce through the thick dust that normally hides such newborn worlds. It also uses a coronagraph to block out the blinding light from the central star, making it easier to spot faint objects nearby.
What they found was a bright point of infrared light nestled at the base of one of the spiral arms. This glowing object is thought to be a gas giant, roughly twice the mass of Jupiter, orbiting its star at a distance similar to that between Neptune and the Sun—about 30 astronomical units.
And this is where it gets really exciting: the planet isn’t just sitting there. It’s actively shaping its surroundings, sweeping up gas and dust, carving channels in the disk, and creating spiral arms. It’s not just a planet—it’s a cosmic sculptor.
Why It’s So Special
Scientists have observed spirals, rings, and gaps in protoplanetary disks for years. These features are common in systems that are still forming, and many believed they were caused by embedded planets. But spotting the actual planet has proven incredibly difficult—until now.
What makes this moment so historic is that astronomers aren’t just seeing the disk. They’re seeing the light from the forming planet itself. That means the object is not only there, it’s energetic enough to shine in infrared despite being wrapped in clouds of gas and dust.
The light is real. It’s not reflected or scattered—it’s coming from the hot, young planet as it grows. That gives researchers far more confidence that what they’re seeing is indeed a planet in the process of formation, not just an illusion or artifact of imaging.
What We’re Learning
The planet appears to be located exactly where models predicted such a spiral-shaping object would be. For decades, astrophysicists have theorized that planets forming in disks send out spiral density waves—a bit like ripples in water. These waves can twist and turn the surrounding material, creating the spectacular spiral arms seen in images.
With this discovery, that theory gains a real-world anchor. We’re not just simulating what might happen. We’re actually watching it unfold.
And it’s not just about the planet. There’s also a strong hint that this forming giant may have its own circumplanetary disk—a ring of material that could someday coalesce into moons. If so, we may also be observing the early stages of moon formation, much like what happened around Jupiter billions of years ago.
Rethinking Planet Formation
This observation could also help settle debates in the scientific community about how planets form. In some cases, researchers argue that planets might form quickly through gravitational collapse—essentially, chunks of the disk breaking off and condensing into planets. But the relatively low mass of the disk around HD 135344B makes that less likely.
Instead, this scenario supports the more widely accepted model of core accretion, where small particles gradually clump together to form larger and larger bodies, eventually growing into planets. The presence of a giant planet within this modest disk, and its ability to influence its surroundings so dramatically, adds weight to the core accretion theory.
Looking Ahead
This is just the beginning. Now that astronomers know ERIS can detect forming planets, the hunt is on. HD 135344B may be the first, but it won’t be the last. Other star systems with suspicious disk patterns could soon reveal their hidden worlds, bringing a new wave of discoveries.
Follow-up observations will also be crucial. Scientists hope to study the object’s orbit, temperature, and spectrum to learn more about its composition and development. If the planet has a circumplanetary disk, future telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) might be able to image it in even greater detail.
And what about HD 135344B’s future? Will this gas giant remain solitary, or are more planets hiding deeper in the disk? Could there be rocky planets forming closer to the star, like Earth did around our own Sun? With tools like ERIS and the VLT, astronomers are now better equipped than ever to answer these questions.
Why the Public Should Care
You might be wondering: why does this matter to those of us here on Earth? Because every discovery like this brings us closer to understanding how our own solar system formed. We can’t go back in time to watch the birth of Earth—but we can look out into space and see another world in the making.
It’s like watching the opening chapter of a cosmic story—one that mirrors our own. These swirling disks of dust and gas are the raw material from which planets, moons, and maybe even life can emerge. Seeing this process in action helps us understand where we came from—and where we might go next.
conclusion
This discovery marks a pivotal moment in modern astronomy. For the first time, a planet has been seen as it forms, shaping its surroundings with immense gravitational force. The images are beautiful, but the science behind them is even more powerful.
By revealing a forming planet in the spiral arms of HD 135344B, astronomers have given us more than just a snapshot of distant space. They’ve handed us a glimpse into our past—and the promise of many discoveries to come.
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