Birth Of New Planet Captured By Giant Telescope In Chile

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — It's a newborn photo of astronomic proportions.

SPHERE, a planet-hunting instrument on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile captured this image showing the birth of a new planet. The new planet, now known as PDS 70b, is the bright spot to the right of the black circle in the center.

Astronomers believe PDS 70b is a giant gas planet with a mass a few times the size of Jupiter and a surface temperature of about 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, making it much hotter than any planet in our solar system.

The new star formed alongside the young dwarf star known as PDS 70, but "alongside" is a relative term – the distance between the star and the new young planet is roughly 3 billion kilometers, about the distance between Uranus and the Sun.