The planet is only a few million years old and may be responsible for a spiral 'arm' in its surrounding protoplanetary disk.
"Our study puts forward a solid piece of evidence that these spiral arms are caused by giant planets," Kevin Wagner, lead author of the paper and a postdoctoral researcher at the UArizona Steward Observatory, explained in a"And with the new James Webb Space Telescope, we will be able to further test and support this idea by searching for more planets like MWC 758c," Wagner added.
The spiral pattern surrounding the planet was first discovered in 2013. Scientists quickly pointed out that it may be representative of findings connected to theoretical simulations showing the formation of giant planets. "Spiral arms can provide feedback on the planet formation process itself," Wagner continued. "Our observation of this new planet further supports the idea that giant planets form early on, accreting mass from their birth environment, and then gravitationally alter the subsequent environment for other, smaller planets to form."Scientists don't fully understand why we have only detected a planet within a spiral arm for the first time.
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