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Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Newborn Planet Is Youngest Ever Found


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An embryonic planet (upper right) takes shape around the star HL Tau in an image from a computer simulation.

The newfound protoplanet, which was discovered inside a distant "womb of gas" using radio telescopes, is believed to be only a few hundred years old. Until now the youngest confirmed planet had been a ten-million-year-old world.

Image courtesy Greaves, Richards, Rice & Muxlow 2008