An international planet hunt spearheaded by Monash University researchers has discovered evidence for five new baby planets, so young they are still growing.
The discoveries were made possible by a groundbreaking new technique developed by Monash's expert astronomers that uses advanced imaging to detect planets previously obscured by the gas and dust clouding young solar systems.
The work is part of the international exoALMA project, named after the powerful Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope in Chile, used to capture images of the never-before-seen young planets and their solar systems.
Primary investigator on the project, Associate Professor Christophe Pinte, pioneered the new technique over seven years at Monash University, giving researchers the ability to find planets as young as a few million years old – 1000 times younger than Earth.
Associate Professor Pinte said unlike traditional planet-hunting methods that look for a young planet's direct light, exoALMA is searching for the effects planets have on their surroundings.
"It's like trying to spot a fish by looking for ripples in a pond, rather than trying to see the fish itself," Associate Professor Pinte said.
"This allows us to detect much younger planets than ever before, so we can learn a lot more about how they grow and evolve.
"A key finding of exoALMA is that planets form quickly, in less than a few million years, and in surprisingly dynamic environments, with many physical mechanisms at play."
The exoALMA project has revolutionised scientists' understanding of how planets interact with their natal environments and evolve over time.
Monash Professor Daniel Price, who worked alongside Associate Professor Pinte to develop the technique and discover the planets, said it will also help us to understand more about the Earth's formation.
"We have discovered more than 5000 exoplanets to date, but they are all mature systems, leaving us with little understanding of how they formed or why they differ so drastically from our own solar system," Professor Price said.
"By uncovering the youngest planets, exoALMA is providing the first clues to unravel these mysteries.
"The technique we have developed is a remarkable leap forward for astronomy and opens up lightyears of new possibilities for future discoveries."
The first exoALMA findings have been published in 17 papers in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The papers have been published in a special issue of the Astrophysical Journal of Letters, with several more coming later this year.
All of the data and images will be made publicly available to support further scientific discoveries.
The Monash research has been supported by funding from the Australian Research Council.
ALMA is supported in part by the US National Science Foundation through the NSF National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
