Researchers have discovered a young protoplanet called WISPIT 2b embedded in a ring-shaped gap in a disk encircling a young star. While theorists have thought that planets likely exist in these gaps (and possibly even create them), this is the first time that it has actually been observed.
研究人员发现了一颗名为 WISPIT 2b 的年轻原行星，嵌入在围绕一颗年轻恒星的圆盘的环形间隙中。虽然理论家认为行星可能存在于这些间隙中（甚至可能创造它们），但这是第一次真正被观测到。
Researchers have directly detected – essentially photographed – a new planet called WISPIT 2b, labeled a protoplanet because it is an astronomical object that is accumulating material and growing into a fully-realized planet. However, even in its “proto” state, WISPIT 2b is a gas giant about 5 times as massive as Jupiter. This massive protoplanet is just about 5 million years old, or almost 1,000 times younger than the Earth, and about 437 light-years from Earth.
研究人员直接探测到——本质上是拍摄了——一颗名为 WISPIT 2b 的新行星，它被标记为原行星，因为它是一个正在积累物质并成长为完全实现的行星的天体。然而，即使在“原始”状态，WISPIT 2b 也是一颗气态巨行星，质量约为木星的 5 倍。这颗巨大的原行星只有大约 500 万年的历史，或者说比地球年轻近 1000 倍，距离地球约 437 光年。
Being a giant and still-growing baby planet, WISPIT 2b is interesting to study on its own, but its location in this protoplanetary disk gap is even more fascinating. Protoplanetary disks are made of gas and dust that surround young stars and function as the birthplace for new planets.
作为一颗仍在生长的巨大婴儿行星，WISPIT 2b 本身的研究很有趣，但它在这个原行星盘间隙中的位置更令人着迷。原行星盘由围绕年轻恒星的气体和尘埃组成，是新行星的诞生地。
Within these disks, gaps or clearings in the dust and gas can form, appearing as empty rings. Scientists have long suggested that these growing planets are likely responsible for clearing the material in these gaps, pushing and scattering dusty disk material outwards and greeting the ring gaps in the first place. Our own solar system was once just a protoplanetary disk, and it’s possible that Jupiter and Saturn may have cleared ring gaps like this in that disk many, many years ago.
在这些圆盘内，灰尘和气体中会形成间隙或空地，表现为空环。科学家们长期以来一直认为，这些生长中的行星可能负责清除这些间隙中的物质，将尘埃盘状物质向外推动和分散，并首先迎接环间隙。我们自己的太阳系曾经只是一个原行星盘，木星和土星可能在很多很多年前就在该盘上清除了这样的环隙。
But despite continued observation of stars with these kinds of disks, there was never any direct evidence of a growing planet found in one of these ring gaps. That is, until now. As reported in this paper , WISPIT 2b was directly observed in one of the ring gaps around its star, WISPIT 2.
但是，尽管对具有此类圆盘的恒星进行了持续的观察，但从未有任何直接证据表明在这些环隙之一中发现了一颗正在生长的行星。也就是说，到现在为止。正如本文所报道的，WISPIT 2b 在其恒星 WISPIT 2 周围的环隙之一中被直接观察到。
Another interesting aspect of this discovery is that WISPIT 2b appears to have formed where it was found, it didn’t form elsewhere and move into the gap somehow.
这一发现的另一个有趣的方面是，WISPIT 2b 似乎是在它被发现的地方形成的，它没有在其他地方形成，也没有以某种方式进入间隙。
The star WISPIT 2 was first observed using VLT-SPHERE (Very Large Telescope – Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch), a ground-based telescope in northern Chile operated by the European Southern Observatory. In these observations, the rings and gap around this star were first seen.
WISPIT 2 恒星首先是使用 VLT-SPHERE（甚大望远镜 - 光谱偏振高对比度系外行星研究）观测到的，这是一台位于智利北部、由欧洲南方天文台运营的地面望远镜。在这些观测中，人们首次看到了这颗恒星周围的光环和间隙。
Following these observations of the system, researchers looked at WISPIT 2, and spotted the planet WISPIT 2b for the first time, using the University of Arizona’s MagAO-X extreme adaptive optics system, a high-contrast exoplanet imager at the Magellan 2 (Clay) Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.
在对该系统进行这些观察后，研究人员观察了 WISPIT 2，并使用亚利桑那大学的 MagAO-X 极端自适应光学系统（智利拉斯坎帕纳斯天文台麦哲伦 2（克莱）望远镜上的高对比度系外行星成像仪）首次发现了 WISPIT 2b 行星。
This technology adds another unique layer to this discovery. The MagAO-X instrument captures direct images, so it didn’t just detect WISPIT 2b, it essentially captured a photograph of the protoplanet.
这项技术为这一发现增添了另一个独特的层面。 MagAO-X 仪器捕获直接图像，因此它不仅检测到 WISPIT 2b，而且还捕获了这颗原行星的照片。
The team used this technology to study the WISPIT 2 system in what is called H-alpha, or Hydrogen-alpha, light. This is a type of visible light that is emitted when hydrogen gas falls from a protoplanetary disk onto young, growing planets. This could look like a ring of super heated plasma circling the planet. This plasma emits the H-alpha light that MagAO-X is specially designed to detect (even if it is a very faint signal compared to the bright star nearby).
该团队利用这项技术在 H-alpha 或 Hydrogen-alpha 光下研究 WISPIT 2 系统。这是一种可见光，当氢气从原行星盘落到年轻的、正在生长的行星上时会发出这种光。这看起来就像一个围绕地球旋转的超热等离子体环。这种等离子体会发出 MagAO-X 专门用来检测的 H-α 光（即使与附近明亮的恒星相比，这是一个非常微弱的信号）。
When looking at the system in H-alpha light, the team spotted a clear dot in one of the dark ring gaps in the disk around WISPIT 2. This dot? The planet WISPIT 2b.
当在 H-alpha 光下观察该系统时，研究小组在 WISPIT 2 周围圆盘的一个暗环间隙中发现了一个清晰的点。这个点？ WISPIT 2b 行星。
In addition to observing the protoplanet’s H-alpha emission using MagAO-X, the team also studied the protoplanet in other wavelengths of infrared light using the LMIRcam detector as part of the The Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer instrument on the University of Arizona’s Large Binocular Telescope.
除了使用 MagAO-X 观察原行星的 H-alpha 发射之外，该团队还使用 LMIRcam 探测器（作为亚利桑那大学大型双目望远镜干涉仪的一部分）在其他波长的红外光下研究原行星。
In addition to discovering WISPIT 2b, this team spotted a second dot in one of the other dark ring gaps even closer to the star WISPIT 2. This second dot has been identified as another candidate planet that will likely be investigated in future studies of the system.
除了发现 WISPIT 2b 之外，该团队还在距离 WISPIT 2 恒星更近的其他暗环间隙中发现了第二个点。第二个点已被确定为另一颗候选行星，可能会在未来对该系统的研究中进行研究。
WISPIT-2b was discovered by a team led by University of Arizona astronomer Laird Close and Richelle van Capelleveen, an astronomy graduate student at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands. This followed the recent discovery of the WISPIT 2 disk and ring system using the VLT, which was led by van Capelleveen.
WISPIT-2b是由亚利桑那大学天文学家Laird Close和荷兰莱顿天文台天文学研究生Richelle van Capelleveen领导的团队发现的。在此之前，最近发现了由 van Capelleveen 领导的使用 VLT 的 WISPIT 2 磁盘和环系统。
This discovery was detailed in the paper “Wide Separation Planets in Time (WISPIT): Discovery of a Gap Hα Protoplanet WISPIT 2b with MagAO-X,” published August 26, 2025 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. A second paper led by van Capelleveen and the University of Galway published on the same day in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
这一发现在 2025 年 8 月 26 日发表在《天体物理学杂志快报》上的论文《时间中的宽分离行星 (WISPIT)：用 MagAO-X 发现间隙 Hα 原行星 WISPIT 2b》中有详细介绍。由范卡佩尔芬和戈尔韦大学领导的第二篇论文于同一天发表在《天体物理学杂志快报》上。
This research was partially supported by a grant from the NASA eXoplanet Research Program. MagAO-X was developed in part by a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation with support from the Heising-Simons Foundation.
这项研究得到了美国宇航局系外行星研究计划的部分资助。 MagAO-X 的开发部分由美国国家科学基金会的拨款和海辛-西蒙斯基金会的支持。