First-ever direct image of two giant planets orbiting Sun-like star

Although astronomers have detected more than 4,000 planets outside our solar system, most of them appear as points of data or dips in light charts. Now, astronomers have captured a very rare sight, with an image of two exoplanets orbiting a star very much like our own.

The team says that this is the first time two exoplanets have been directly imaged orbiting a Sun-like star. But as similar as it is, this star is much younger than our own. At just 17 million years old, it’s a cosmic infant compared to the middle-aged Sun, which is about 4.6 billion years old. The planets are still very young too, and the heat from their recent formation is what makes them shine so bright.

This isn’t the only cosmic baby photo that the VLT has taken recently. Back in May the telescope imaged what looked like a planet in the process of being formed, in a thick cloud of dust and gas surrounding another young star.