In a major breakthrough, astronomers have directly imaged a young planet, WISPIT 2b, forming inside a gap in a protoplanetary disk around a distant star. The discovery confirms for the first time that these disk gaps, long suspected to be carved by growing planets, indeed host developing worlds.
According to NASA, WISPIT 2b is a gas giant roughly five times the mass of Jupiter and only five million years old—almost 1,000 times younger than Earth. It orbits a young star named WISPIT 2, located about 437 light-years from Earth.
Understanding protoplanetary disksProtoplanetary disks are rings of gas and dust surrounding young stars, providing the raw material for planet formation. Gaps in these disks often appear as dark rings. Scientists had theorised that forming planets could be responsible for these gaps, but until now, none had been observed directly in such a location.
An artist’s illustration shows WISPIT 2b gathering matter while orbiting its star. (Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt, IPAC)Advanced imaging captures a forming planetThe discovery was made using cutting-edge imaging tools. The system was initially observed with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. Later, astronomers used the MagAO-X instrument on the Magellan Clay Telescope to capture a direct image of WISPIT 2b in Hydrogen-alpha light. “This type of light is emitted when hydrogen gas falls onto a growing planet, a clear sign of active formation,” NASA said.
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Infrared observations from the Large Binocular Telescope offered additional details about the planet. A second potential planet was also detected in another gap closer to the star, indicating the system may host multiple forming planets.Scientists behind the discoveryNASA stated that WISPIT 2b was discovered by a team led by University of Arizona astronomer Laird Close and Richelle van Capelleveen, an astronomy graduate student at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands. The finding followed the recent identification of the WISPIT 2 disk and ring system using the VLT, led by van Capelleveen.The discovery is described in the paper “Wide Separation Planets in Time (WISPIT): Discovery of a Gap Hα Protoplanet WISPIT 2b with MagAO-X”, published on August 26, 2025, in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. A second paper led by van Capelleveen and the University of Galway was published the same day in the same journal.
This marks rare, direct evidence of planet formation in action. Scientists say it brings them closer to understanding how planetary systems, including our own, come into existence.
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