August 14, 2019

Planet's position pinpointed by the gas flow deviation (Image ESO/ALMA)

An article published in the journal “Nature Astronomy” reports the discovery of evidence of the existence of a planet in formation within the protoplanetary disk surrounding the star HD 97048. A team led by Christophe Pinte used a technique that was tested in a previous occasion that identifies areas where the flow of gas around a star is disturbed by the presence of a planet. The data collected using the ALMA radio telescope made it possible to identify a planet with a mass estimated between two and three times Jupiter’s.