Level 1 — Absolute Beginner

Far away in space, new stars and new planets are being born. Scientists just found a very young planet. It is called Elias 2-24 b.

This planet is less than 1 million years old. That sounds old, but for a planet it is very, very young. It is the youngest planet ever found outside our solar system.

The planet is about the same size as Jupiter. It moves around a young star named Elias 2-24. The star is about 450 light years from Earth. That is very far away.

The planet is still growing. It is pulling in gas and dust from a big ring of material around its star. Scientists are excited because this helps them learn how planets are born.

planet

A large round object in space that moves around a star.

star

A huge, hot ball of gas in space that gives off light, like our Sun.

young

Not old; having existed for only a short time.

gas

A substance, like air, that is not solid or liquid and can spread out to fill a space.

dust

Tiny bits of solid material floating in space.

growing

Getting bigger over time.

far away

Not close; a long distance from a place.

solar system

Our Sun and all the planets, including Earth, that move around it.

Level 2 — Elementary

On September 16 and 17, 2026, astronomers announced an exciting discovery. In a study published in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters, they confirmed a giant planet that is less than 1 million years old. This makes it by far the youngest planet ever found outside our solar system.

The planet is named Elias 2-24 b. It is roughly the size and mass of Jupiter, and it orbits a very young star called Elias 2-24. The star sits about 450 light years from Earth, inside a region called the Ophiuchus Molecular Cloud, where many new stars and planets are forming right now.

The star Elias 2-24 is surrounded by a huge ring of leftover gas and dust called a protoplanetary disk, and this disk is one of the largest and brightest ever seen. The new planet was actually hiding inside old pictures taken by the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii back in 2018 and 2020. Astronomers only recently confirmed it was a real planet and not just a strange spot in the image.

Elias 2-24 b sits inside a gap in the disk, and it is still actively pulling in gas and dust, which means it is still growing bigger even as scientists watch it. Before this discovery, the youngest confirmed planets were more than 5 million years old, so finding one this young is a big surprise that could change how scientists think giant planets form.

astronomer

A scientist who studies stars, planets, and other objects in space.

confirm

To show that something is definitely true or real.

orbit

To travel in a curved path around a star, planet, or other object.

mass

The amount of matter that makes up an object, related to how heavy it is.

region

An area of space or land with certain features.

disk

A flat, round shape, like a ring of material spread out around a star.

gap

An empty space or opening between two things.

accrete

To slowly gather more material and grow bigger, piece by piece.

Level 3 — Intermediate

Astronomers announced on September 16 and 17, 2026, in a study published in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the confirmation of a giant exoplanet less than 1 million years old, an age that makes it by far the youngest planet ever detected outside our solar system. Named Elias 2-24 b, the planet is roughly the size and mass of Jupiter and orbits a very young star, Elias 2-24, located about 450 light years from Earth in the Ophiuchus Molecular Cloud, a region where stars and planets are actively forming.

Elias 2-24 is encircled by one of the largest and brightest known protoplanetary disks, a swirling structure of leftover gas and dust left over from the star's own formation, out of which planets gradually assemble. Rather than being spotted in a fresh observation, the planet turned up in archived images captured by the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii in 2018 and 2020, and it took additional analysis before astronomers could confirm it was a genuine planet rather than an imaging artifact.

The planet sits within a gap carved into its star's disk and is still actively accreting, meaning it continues pulling in gas and dust from the surrounding material even as it is being observed, so astronomers are effectively watching a planet grow in real time. The discovery was led by Andrea Bernardi, a doctoral student at the Institute of Astrophysical Studies at Diego Portales University in Chile, with Lucas Cieza, a professor at the same university, serving as co-author.

Before this finding, the record for youngest confirmed planet was shared by four other worlds, all more than 5 million years old, two orbiting the star PDS 70 and two orbiting the star WISPIT 2. Because giant planets like Jupiter are generally thought to take a long time to assemble, the existence of a fully formed giant planet at under 1 million years old challenges existing theories about how quickly such planets can come together.

exoplanet

A planet that orbits a star outside our own solar system.

protoplanetary disk

A rotating disk of gas and dust around a young star, out of which planets can form.

archived

Stored for later use rather than newly collected.

artifact

A false or misleading feature in data or an image, produced by the equipment or process rather than by something real.

carve

To form or shape something, in this case by clearing a gap or path through material.

accreting

Gradually gathering and adding material, causing something to grow larger over time.

doctoral student

A student who is working toward the highest university degree, a PhD.

co-author

A person who works together with another person to write a study or paper.

Level 4 — Advanced

On September 16 and 17, 2026, astronomers unveiled a discovery that immediately reset the timeline scientists use to understand how giant planets form. In a study published in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers confirmed Elias 2-24 b, a planet with roughly the size and mass of Jupiter, to be less than 1 million years old, a figure that makes it by far the youngest planet ever confirmed beyond our solar system. The planet orbits Elias 2-24, an exceptionally young star roughly 450 light years from Earth within the Ophiuchus Molecular Cloud, a stellar nursery where stars and their planetary systems are being actively assembled.

Elias 2-24 is encircled by one of the largest and brightest protoplanetary disks yet catalogued, the swirling reservoir of residual gas and dust from stellar formation out of which planets gradually coalesce. Rather than emerging from a freshly targeted observation, the planet was uncovered retrospectively, buried within archival imaging captured by the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii in 2018 and 2020. Only after further scrutiny were astronomers able to establish that the signal represented a genuine planet rather than an instrumental or processing artifact, a distinction that historically has proven difficult to make with confidence in disk imaging of this kind.

Perhaps most striking is that Elias 2-24 b is caught in the act of formation: it resides within a gap carved into its host disk and is still actively accreting gas and dust from the surrounding material, meaning astronomers are, in effect, observing a giant planet continue to assemble mass in real time. The research was led by Andrea Bernardi, a doctoral student at the Institute of Astrophysical Studies at Diego Portales University in Chile, alongside co-author Lucas Cieza, a professor at the same institution.

The finding displaces a previous record shared by four planets, all older than 5 million years, two orbiting the star PDS 70 and two orbiting WISPIT 2. Because prevailing theories hold that giant planets akin to Jupiter require a considerable span of time to accumulate their mass, the existence of a substantially formed giant planet at under 1 million years old complicates that picture and invites a reassessment of just how rapidly such worlds are capable of coming together around their host stars.

unveil

To reveal or make something known publicly for the first time.

stellar nursery

A region of space, rich in gas and dust, where new stars are actively being formed.

coalesce

To come together and combine into a single mass or whole.

retrospectively

Looking back at something from an earlier time, rather than observing it freshly.

archival

Relating to records or data that were collected and stored in the past.

scrutiny

Close, careful examination of something.