Born yesterday

VERY LARGE TELESCOPE, 20 MAY 2020

The bright yellow ‘twist’, circled deep within this spiralling protoplanetary disc surrounding young star AB Aurigae may be the first direct evidence of a planet being born. The SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet Research) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope revealed the structure 531 lightyears away in the constellation of Auriga. The twist is thought to mark the connection of two spirals either side of the planet’s orbit, one winding inwards and one expanding outwards, with gas and dust accreting onto the forming planet.