NASA says astronomers identified Elias 2-24 b, estimated to be under 1 million years old, as the youngest planet yet found. It remains in the gas-and-dust disk where it formed, orbiting a star about 450 light-years from Earth, and is roughly Jupiter-sized.
Researchers used data from NASA-funded archives and a coronagraph, which blocks much of a star’s light to make a planet easier to detect. Newborn planets are difficult to observe because thick clouds of gas and dust can hide them and they appear faint beside their stars.
