Astronomers Discovered Rare Infant Planet
The newly identified planet challenges existing timelines for how giant worlds form in the earliest stages of a star system.
Updated on Sept. 18, 2026 in Space
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Astronomers have discovered a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting the infant star Elias 2-24, located 450 light years from Earth. At less than one million years old, this planet is significantly younger than the previous record-holding infants, which were at least five million years old.
Why it matters
This discovery provides a natural laboratory to observe the earliest stages of planetary formation, effectively contradicting current theoretical models that suggest such large planets require more time to coalesce. By identifying a giant in such an early orbital environment, researchers can better map how gas giants achieve mass while their host stars are still in their infancy.
The planet orbits 11 times farther from its star than Jupiter does from the Sun, a position identified via disk gaps in archival data from the Keck, ALMA, and European Southern observatories. This distance and the planet's mass of two to 14 Jupiters test the limits of planetary migration and accretion theories.
The players
Keck Observatory
A multi-telescope astronomical observatory located in Hawaii that provides high-resolution data on stellar and planetary environments.
ALMA
An international radio telescope array located in Chile that maps the distribution of gas and dust around infant stars.
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
A NASA space observatory designed for wide-field infrared surveys and high-contrast imaging of exoplanets.
The details
Researchers identified the planet by analyzing archival observations of seven stars taken between 2018 and 2020. Data from the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array — a system of radio telescopes) and the European Southern Observatory allowed the team to spot the planet inside a disk gap, the empty region within a protoplanetary disk where gas and dust are being cleared by a forming planet. By cross-referencing this with archived Keck Observatory findings, scientists confirmed the planetary signature around the star Elias 2-24.
Timeline
2018-2020: Researchers gathered archival observations of seven stars.
September 16, 2026: The findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
September 17, 2026: The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope achieved first light.
The Tech Race
This discovery marks a shift from studying mature exoplanetary systems to the observation of infant worlds, a field historically limited by equipment sensitivity. The recent commissioning of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, with its high-contrast coronagraph, is expected to accelerate this race by enabling easier detection of these elusive protoplanetary bodies.
This development represents a milestone in academic astrophysics rather than a direct consumer-facing technology. Researchers and hobbyists can track upcoming findings from the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope as it begins its mission to scan for more infant planetary systems.
The takeaway
The discovery of Elias 2-24 b forces a recalibration of how quickly massive gas giants can emerge from a star's birth disk. Watch for future findings from the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope as it utilizes its coronagraph to search for more infant planets.
Further reading
For more updates on planetary evolution and imaging technology, see our latest coverage in Space.
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