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WIde Separation Planets In Time (WISPIT): A Gap-clearing Planet in a Multi-ringed Disk around the Young Solar-type Star WISPIT 2

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, vol. 990, pp. L8

Abstract

Abstract In the past decades, several thousand exoplanet systems have been discovered around evolved, main-sequence stars, revealing a wide diversity in their architectures. To understand how the planet formation process can lead to vastly different outcomes in system architecture, we have to study the starting conditions of planet formation within the disks around young stars. In this study, we are presenting high-resolution direct imaging observations with the Very Large Telescope/SPHERE of the young (∼5 Myr), nearby (∼133 pc), solar-analog designated as WISPIT 2 (= TYC 5709-354-1). These observations were taken as part of our survey program that explores the formation and orbital evolution of wide-separation gas giants. WISPIT 2 was observed in four independent epochs using polarized light and total intensity observations. They reveal for the first time an extended (380 au) disk in scattered light with a multi-ringed substructure. We directly detect a young protoplanet, WISPIT 2b, embedded in a disk gap and show that it is comoving with its host star. Multiple SPHERE epochs demonstrate that it shows orbital motion consistent with Keplerian motion in the observed disk gap. Our H - and K s -band photometric data are consistent with thermal emission from a young planet. By comparison with planet evolutionary models, we find a mass of the planet of 4. 9 − 0.6 + 0.9 M Jup . This mass is also consistent with the width of the observed disk gap, retrieved from hydrodynamic models. WISPIT 2b is the first unambiguous planet detection in a multi-ringed disk, making the WISPIT 2 system the ideal laboratory to study planet–disk interaction and subsequent evolution.

Authors 19

  1. Leiden University · Leiden Observatory

    Affiliation as printed

    Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Postbus 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands; capelleveen@strw.leidenuniv.nl

  2. Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway

    Affiliation as printed

    School of Natural Sciences, Center for Astronomy, University of Galway, Galway, H91 CF50, Ireland

  3. Leiden University · Leiden Observatory

    Affiliation as printed

    Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Postbus 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands; capelleveen@strw.leidenuniv.nl

  4. Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway

    Affiliation as printed

    School of Natural Sciences, Center for Astronomy, University of Galway, Galway, H91 CF50, Ireland

  5. Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway

    Affiliation as printed

    School of Natural Sciences, Center for Astronomy, University of Galway, Galway, H91 CF50, Ireland

  6. California Institute of Technology · Jet Propulsion Laboratory

    Affiliation as printed

    Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, M/S 321-162, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA

  7. Leiden University · Leiden Observatory

    Affiliation as printed

    Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Postbus 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands; capelleveen@strw.leidenuniv.nl

  8. Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

    Affiliation as printed

    Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany

  9. Leiden University · Leiden Observatory

    Affiliation as printed

    Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Postbus 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands; capelleveen@strw.leidenuniv.nl

  10. University of Arizona

    Affiliation as printed

    Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA

  11. University of Amsterdam

    Affiliation as printed

    Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  12. Leiden University · University of Arizona · Leiden Observatory

    Affiliation as printed

    Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Postbus 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands; capelleveen@strw.leidenuniv.nl

    Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA

  13. Leiden University · Leiden Observatory

    Affiliation as printed

    Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Postbus 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands; capelleveen@strw.leidenuniv.nl

  14. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble · Université Grenoble Alpes

    Affiliation as printed

    Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique (IPAG), F-38000, France

  15. Leiden University · Leiden Observatory

    Affiliation as printed

    Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Postbus 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands; capelleveen@strw.leidenuniv.nl

  16. The University of Tokyo

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Earth Science and Astronomy, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan

  17. Leiden University · Leiden Observatory

    Affiliation as printed

    Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Postbus 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands; capelleveen@strw.leidenuniv.nl

  18. Leiden University · Leiden Observatory

    Affiliation as printed

    Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Postbus 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands; capelleveen@strw.leidenuniv.nl

  19. California Institute of Technology

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

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References 147