Scientists see planet being born for the first ever time

The sun and nine planets of our system orbiting.

The pictures show the young planet, named PDS 70b, tearing its way through the planet-forming material that surrounds the young star.

It is visible as a bright light just to the right of the black part at the centre of the image. The planet is roughly three billion kilometres from the central star, about the same as the distance between Uranus and the Sun.

The dark region that can be seen in the middle of the photo is because of a coronagraph – a mask that blocks the blinding light of the central star and allows astronomers to detect its much fainter disc and planetary companion. It is that mask that allows the planet to be formed, since otherwise the bright light of the star would overwhelm any light coming from the planet itself.

Radio telescopes under Milky Way

"These discs around young stars are the birthplaces of planets, but so far only a handful of observations have detected hints of baby planets in them," said Miriam Keppler, who led the team who found the still-forming planet. "The problem is that until now, most of these planet candidates could just have been features in the disc."