3Hubble finds a new Jupiter-like planet forming in an unusual way: NASA

The Hubble Space Telescope has photographed a Jupiter-like protoplanet.

About the finding:

• NASA's Hubble space telescope has produced a direct photograph of a Jupiter-like protoplanet embedded in a protoplanetary dusty disk around 2 million years old.
• It is forming through what researchers describe as an "intense and violent process."
• This discovery supports a long-debated theory for how planets like Jupiter form, called "disk instability."

About the newly forming Planet:

• The protoplanet, which is encased in the womb of a protoplanetary disc rich in dust and gas, is already nine times more massive than Jupiter.
• Scientists established the presence of the cosmic entity as a planet when the massive disc of dust and gas moving around the star AB Aurigae was discovered turned approximately face-on to the Earth's view.
• NASA stated that the new world, which is under construction, is embedded in a protoplanetary disk of dust and gas with distinct spiral structure swirling around surrounding a young star.
• The star is estimated to be around two million years old, which is the age of our solar system when planet formation was underway.
  • Important to note that the solar system's age is currently 4.6 billion years. 
• It orbits its parent star at a distance of 8.6 billion miles, more than twice the distance between our Sun and Pluto.
• This has led researchers to conclude that the disc’s instability allowed this planet to form at such a great distance from its parent star.
  • The observations also stand in stark contrast to the expectation of planet formation by the widely accepted core accretion model.