Image of a Forming Planet
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Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with NASA’s Universe of Learning partners: Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Video imagery:
- Science simulation of forming planetary system: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, the Advanced Visualization Laboratoy at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, A. Boley, A. Kritsuk and M. Norman
- Image of the WISPIT 2 system: Magellan Telescope in Chile and the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona. Credit: Laird Close, University of Arizona
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[00:00:00.00] Colorful deep space images of stars, galaxies, nebulae, the Mars Rover, planets, and gas clouds scroll by. Text: News From the Universe.
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[00:00:09.37] October 24, 2025. Image of a Forming Planet. Siimulation. Against the black of space, swirling fields of gas and debris in various shades of orange and brown ring a bright white spot in the center. The swirls brighten near the white spot and the outer edges expand. Text: Young stars have disks of gas and dust surrounding them, leftover material from their formation.
[00:00:31.15] A trail of light orange debris forms among the growing spiral. It lengthens and spins with the rest. Text: Gaps have been seen in these disks, thought to be created by forming planets, but direct evidence of that has never captured — until now. The trail becomes a glowing yellow ring that tightens around the star.
[00:00:48.05] Text: This image of the WISPIT 2 system was captured by the Magellan Telescope in Chile and the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona. The system has a bright white star in the middle with vertical rings of white, blue and purple gasses with dots among them. Text: The protoplanet WISPIT 2b is located in a gap in the disk between the bright white inner ring and a fainter outer ring. A large purple dot is labeled Protoplanet WISPIT 2b. Text: At five million years old, the planet is still forming, but it is already five times as massive as Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. This direct image of WISPIT 2b supports the theory that the gaps observed in disks around young stars are being created by giant planets forming there, sweeping up material as they orbit.
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[00:01:34.26] This news was brought to you in part by the NASA Exoplanet Research Program.