Astronomers Confirm New Planet in a Unique Young Solar System
An extraordinary discovery has been made in one of the universe’s youngest and most peculiar solar systems. The University of Arizona’s advanced technology played a crucial role in unveiling this celestial phenomenon.
The planetary system, named WISPIT 2, was initially introduced in August 2025. A team headed by University of Arizona astronomer Laird Close utilized the MagAO-X instrument to capture images of a developing planet, designated as WISPIT 2b. This planet resides within a dark gap between dust rings surrounding a nascent star. Richelle van Capelleveen, a doctoral candidate at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands, originally discovered the WISPIT system. Her discovery was the first to confirm a protoplanet in a disk gap, a previously theorized but unseen phenomenon.
During these observations, Close’s team identified another celestial body, referred to as “CC1,” which orbits closer to the star than WISPIT 2b, at approximately 15 astronomical units. This distance is about 1.5 times that between the sun and Saturn.
“At the time of detection, we couldn’t decipher the true nature of CC1 – it could have been a massive planet or simply a clump of dense, reddish dust,” Close explained.
The WISPIT 2 system as captured by the Magellan Telescope in Chile and the University of Arizona’s Large Binocular Telescope. The newly confirmed planet WISPIT 2c is the red dot below the star. The protoplanet WISPIT 2b appears as a small purple dot in a dust-free gap between a bright inner dust ring and a fainter outer ring.
Laird Close, University of Arizona
Further investigation of CC1 was conducted by graduate student Gabriel Weible at Steward Observatory using the Large Binocular Telescope on Mount Graham. The object was clearly detected in thermal infrared light, but its true identity remained elusive until recently.
An international team led by Chloe Lawlor, a doctoral student in astrophysics at the University of Galway in Ireland, alongside Close, has now confirmed that CC1 is indeed a planet, now officially classified as WISPIT 2c. This discovery makes WISPIT 2 only the second known young solar system with two confirmed giant planets within a multi-ringed disk.
WISPIT 2c is approximately five million years old and ten times the mass of Jupiter, making it one of the most massive young planets ever directly examined. It is twice the size of its sibling WISPIT 2b, yet orbits the host star four times closer, a region challenging to observe from Earth.
The confirmation was achieved using the Very Large Telescope Interferometer in Chile’s Atacama Desert, which links multiple large telescopes to function as a single powerful instrument. The team employed a newly developed extreme adaptive optics system and GRAVITY, a high-sensitivity spectro-interferometer, to enhance images from the VLTI and resolve faint objects like exoplanets. This combination was crucial for identifying a source so close to its host star.
The team identified a distinct chemical signature of carbon monoxide gas in the planet’s atmosphere, a vital marker of young, actively forming gas giants. The results are published in Astrophysical Journal Letters.
“Carbon monoxide is one of the key signatures we look for in young giant planets. When we saw it clearly in the data, that was when we knew we had something significant,” said Lawlor. “WISPIT 2 will become an important laboratory to study planet formation.”
The MagAO-X system, responsible for the initial discovery of CC1, was developed by Close and fellow U of A astronomer Jared Males, along with their students. It is one of the most powerful extreme adaptive optics systems globally, correcting for atmospheric distortion in real time. This allows telescopes to distinguish the faint glow of a young planet from its host star’s brightness. The system is optimized for detecting planets in the optical spectrum, making it instrumental in discovering protoplanets in systems like WISPIT 2.
The WISPIT 2 system, with its three dust rings, two confirmed giant planets, and a star similar in mass to our sun, provides astronomers with a rare glimpse into conditions akin to our solar system’s earliest days, approximately 4.5 billion years ago. The University of Arizona’s instrumentation was central to the original discovery, highlighting the university’s leadership in exoplanet science.
“By bringing together most of the largest optical and infrared telescopes on Earth, this exciting new solar system – with three rings and two massive planets – is now coming into better focus,” Close stated. “WISPIT 2 will be a benchmark exoplanetary system for years to come.”
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