Astronomers discover youngest exoplanet

Posted: Thu, Jan 3 6:47 AM ET (1147 GMT)

German astronomers reported this week that they have
discovered the youngest extrasolar planet found to date, a
world that is still embedded within the protoplanetary disk
around its star. Astronomers detected the presence of the
exoplanet surrounding the star TW Hydrae indirectly, using
the radial velocity technique used to find most of the over
250 known exoplanets. The star itself is estimated to be
only 8-10 million years old, and is still surrounded by a
protoplanetary disk of dust and gas. The planet, about 10
times the mass of Jupiter, orbits in an inner gap in the
disk, completing one orbit in just over 3.5 days. The
discovery puts new constraints on how long it takes for
planets to form around new stars.

Related Links:
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New Scientist article:

http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn13135-first-planet-discovered-around-a-youthful-star.html

SPACE.com article:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080102-young-planet.html

ScienceNow article:

http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/102/2

AFP article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080102/sc_afp/spaceastronomyexoplanets_080102185037;_ylt=Ata0rHSEUsOGG3ETAJxO2EDlmlUA

Max Planck Institute press release:

http://www.mpia.de/Public/menu_q2e.php?Aktuelles/PR/2008/PR080103/PR_080103_en.html

This article is also available on the web at:

http://www.spacetoday.net/getsummary.php?id=4040