Astronomers have captured an exceptionally rare view of two giant planets forming around the young star WISPIT 2. The system offers a direct look at planetary birth in progress, a stage that is usually hidden from observation.
The findings, reported in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, rely on observations from the European Southern Observatory and partner instruments. By combining multiple high-resolution techniques, researchers confirmed that two massive planets are embedded within a vast disc of gas and dust. Beyond the discovery itself, the structure of the disc, suggests an active and evolving system.
A System That Mirrors Early Solar System Architecture
The WISPIT 2 system joins PDS 70 as one of the only known cases where two planets are observed forming around the same star. The research team stated that its disc is particularly large and clearly structured, making it easier to interpret ongoing processes.
Visible rings and gaps within the disc are widely understood as signatures of planet formation. According to Christian Ginski, co-author of the study, these features indicate that more planets may still be forming, even if they have not yet been directly detected. He added that:
“WISPIT 2 gives us a critical laboratory not just to observe the formation of a single planet but an entire planetary system.”
Two Massive Planets Found Far Apart
As explained in the study, the first planet, WISPIT 2b, was identified in earlier observations and is estimated to have nearly five times the mass of Jupiter. It orbits at a distance about 60 times greater than that between the Earth and the Sun, placing it far out in the system.
A second planet, WISPIT 2c, has now been confirmed closer to the star. It is roughly twice as massive as Jupiter and orbits about four times nearer than WISPIT 2b. As Guillaume Bourdarot of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics explained, the upgraded GRAVITY+instrument was key to confirming this object as a planet.
The detection combined data from SPHEREon the ESO Very Large Telescope and interferometric measurements, demonstrating the growing precision of modern observational tools.
Strange Disc Gaps Hint at New Planet Birth
Both planets are located within distinct gaps in the protoplanetary disc, features created as forming planets accumulate surrounding material. These gaps, along with the disc’s ring-like patterns, provide direct evidence of how planets shape their environment during formation.
The study also said that the astronomers have also identified a smaller, more subtle gap farther out in the disc. Chloe Lawlor from the University of Galway noted that this feature may indicate the presence of a third planet.
“We suspect there may be a third planet carving out this gap,” she said, “potentially of Saturn mass owing to the gap’s being much narrower and shallower.”
Further observations, including those planned with theExtremely Large Telescope, could help confirm this possibility and expand the current view of a system still in the process of assembling.
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