Astronomers have captured the first direct image of a baby exoplanet, WISPIT 2b, forming within a gap in its star's protoplanetary disk, offering new evidence of planet formation processes.

This groundbreaking observation was made using the Magellan Telescope in Chile and the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona, with initial detection from the European Southern Observatory's VLT-SPHERE instrument.

WISPIT 2b is a gas giant about five times the mass of Jupiter, approximately five million years old, orbiting the star WISPIT 2, which is 437 light-years from Earth.

Its position within the disk's gap suggests it is actively shaping its environment by sweeping up material and pushing dust aside as it continues to grow.

Detection of hydrogen H-alpha emission using MagAO-X confirms that WISPIT 2b is actively accreting material, supporting theories of planet formation within the disk gap.

The new images depict WISPIT 2b as a small purple dot within a bright dust ring, with a faint outer ring indicating ongoing accretion and growth.

Astronomers also identified a potential sibling planet in another inner ring gap, suggesting multiple planets may be forming in this system.

Published on August 26 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, these findings offer a rare, direct glimpse of a protoplanet in the act of formation, confirming longstanding theories about gas giant development.