- Astronomers have discovered a 2nd planet forming around the young star WISPIT 2, some 437 light-years away.
- It orbits far closer to its star than fellow planet WISPIT 2b, which astronomers detected in 2025.
- The findings suggest the WISPIT 2 system might resemble a much younger version of our own solar system.
Originally published by the European Southern Observatory on March 24, 2026. Edits by EarthSky.
Astronomers spot 2 planets forming around young star
Astronomers have observed two planets forming in the disk around a young star named WISPIT 2, some 437 light-years away.
Having detected the 1st planet in 2025, the team has now employed European Southern Observatory (ESO) telescopes to confirm the presence of another. These observations, and the unique structure of the disk around the star, indicate that the WISPIT 2 system could resemble a young version of our own solar system.
Lead author Chloe Lawlor said:
WISPIT 2 is the best look into our own past that we have to date.
Lawlor and her team revealed the results in a peer-reviewed study published on March 24, 2026, in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
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Several planets forming
The system is only the 2nd known, after PDS 70, where two planets have been directly observed in the process of forming around their host star. But unlike PDS 70, however, WISPIT 2 has a very extended planet-forming disk with distinctive gaps and rings. As Lawlor explained:
These structures suggest that more planets are currently forming, which we will eventually detect.
Study co-author Christian Ginski said:
WISPIT 2 gives us a critical laboratory not just to observe the formation of a single planet but an entire planetary system.
Now, with such observations, astronomers aim to better understand how baby planetary systems develop into mature ones, like our own.
A 2nd planet for WISPIT 2
Astronomers detected the system’s 1st newborn planet – named WISPIT 2b – last year. It has a mass almost five times that of Jupiter, and orbits the central star at around 60 times the distance between Earth and the sun.
Later, after astronomers then spotted an additional object near the star, observations with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the VLT Interferometer (VLTI) confirmed that it’s a planet. The VLTI’s GRAVITY+ instrument was crucial, explained study co-author Guillaume Bourdarot:
Critically, our study made use of the recent upgrade to GRAVITY+, without which we would not have been able to get such a clear detection of the planet so close to its star.
The new planet – WISPIT 2c – is four times closer to the central star and twice as massive as WISPIT 2b. And both planets are gas giants, like the outer planets in our solar system.
Planets forming in a young dust disk
Both planets in WISPIT 2 appear in clear gaps within the disk of dust and gas circling the young star. These gaps result from each planet’s development. As particles in the disk accumulate, their gravity pulls in more material until an embryo planet forms. The remaining material, around each gap, then creates distinctive dust rings in the disk.
In addition, besides the gaps that the two planets were found in, there is at least one smaller gap farther out in the WISPIT 2 disk. Lawlor said:
We suspect there may be a 3rd planet carving out this gap, potentially of Saturn mass, owing to the gap being much narrower and shallower.
The team is eager to make follow-up observations, with Ginski noting:
With ESO’s upcoming Extremely Large Telescope, we may be able to directly image such a planet.
Bottom line: Astronomers have spotted two planets forming in the disk around a young star named WISPIT 2, which resembles a young version of our solar system.
Via ESO
Read more: Baby planet caught carving a path in its star’s dusty disk