Birth of a planet captured for first time as gas giant bigger than Jupiter swirls into existence

Jul 2, 2018

Birth of a planet captured for first time as gas giant bigger than Jupiter swirls into existence

Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: space

E ven by astronomical standards it is a discovery that is out of this world.

Scientists have for the first time witnessed the birth of a planet, a huge gas giant many times the size of Jupiter, swirling into existence 370 light years from Earth.

The theory of how gas planets form from a vortex of hydrogen and helium molecules captivated by their own gravity, is now widely accepted by scientists. But it has never been seen before, until now.