A new planet starts its life in a rotating circle of gas and dust, a cradle known as a protostellar disc. My colleagues and I have used computer simulations to show that newborn gas planets in these discs are likely to have surprisingly flattened shapes. This finding, published in Astronomy and Astrophysics Letters, could add to our picture of exactly how planets form.
Observing protoplanets that have just formed and are still within their protostellar discs is extremely difficult. Until now only three such young protoplanets have been observed, with two of them in the same system, PDS 70.
We need to find systems that are young, and close enough for our telescopes to be able to detect the dim light from the planet itself and distinguish it from that of the disc. The whole process of planetary formation lasts only a few million years which is nothing more than a blink of an eye in astrophysical scales. This means we need to have luck to catch them in the act of forming.
