Dutch astronomers photograph possible toddler planet by chance

An international team of astronomers headed by Dutch researchers from Leiden University has coincidently found a small companion around the young double star CS Cha. The astronomers examined the dust disc of the binary, while they stumbled upon the companion. The researchers suspect that it is a planet in his toddler years that is still growing. The astronomers used the SPHERE instrument on the European Very Large Telescope in Chile. They will soon publish their findings in an article that is accepted by the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

The binary star CS Cha and his special companion are located some six hundred light years away from Earth in a star formation area in the southern constellation Chameleon. The double star is just two to three million years young. The researchers wanted to study the star to search for a dust disc and for planets in the making.

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Credit: C. Ginski & SPHERE

An infrared image of the binary CS Cha with the newly discovered companion in the dotted circle. After a mouse click you can see the image viewed with special polarization filters that make dust discs and exoplanets visible. The companion seems to have his own dust disc.

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Credit: C. Ginski & SPHERE

An infrared image of the binary star and the newly discovered companion, but now viewed with special polarization filters that make dust discs and exoplanets visible. The companion seems to have his own dust disc.

Source / Image Courtesy

Double star system orbiting.

About 160 000 light-years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud lies a double star system. VFTS 352 is the hottest and most massive double star system to date, with components so close that they touch each other.

The centres of the stars are separated by just 12 million kilometres, with surface temperatures above 40 000 degrees Celsius. VFTS 352 could be heading for a dramatic end, either creating a single giant star, or form a binary black hole.