Pic  Astronomers have for the first time spotted what appears to be a moon-forming ring of matter around a young exoplanet, and described their findin

We've seen things you people wouldn't believe. An exoplanet building its own moons

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2021-07-23 14:30:09

Pic Astronomers have for the first time spotted what appears to be a moon-forming ring of matter around a young exoplanet, and described their findings in a paper published on Thursday.

Orbiting a star 400 light-years away, PDS 70c is an otherworldly Jupiter-like gas giant that is particularly interesting to planet watchers. Unlike most other confirmed exoplanets, PDS 70c and its neighbor PDS 70b are not yet fully grown. So much so, when they were discovered in 2018 and 2019 respectively, it was the first time researchers were able to directly image a protoplanet.

The latest observations have confirmed PDS 70c is harboring another astronomical gem: it’s surrounded by a cloud of gas and dust in which satellites are slowly taking shape.

“Our work presents a clear detection of a disc in which satellites could be forming,” said Myriam Benisty, first author of the paper and a researcher at the University of Grenoble, France.

Left: Image taken by the ALMA telescope of the system surrounding the central PDS 70 star. The bright rings are where the planets, PDS 70b and PDS 70c are forming. Right: Close-up of the bright spot: the moon-forming disk around PDS 70c. Image Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Benisty et al. Click to enlarge

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