Capturing data…
Capturing data…
TUE, 22 SEPT · 78 ITEMS
Live Science, Gizmodo, Science Daily + 1 more · Science & Medicine
4 outletsAstronomers have confirmed the youngest ever discovered, a world only about one million years old, still emerging from the disk of gas and dust around its host star. The planet, named Elias 2-24 b, is roughly Jupiter's mass, which is surprising because such a young, massive world challenges current models of how planets form. This is a direct detection—likely via —of a caught in the act of formation, making it a key data point for understanding early planetary evolution.
The claim is solid, based on a peer-reviewed study reported by reputable outlets like Live Science, Gizmodo, and Science Daily. The reporting closely follows the primary source (likely a paper in a major astronomy journal), and the cross-source consistency supports the core facts: the planet's age, mass, and name. The 'youngest ever' superlative is widely used but could be contested by future discoveries; the underlying detection method and age estimate are standard for such claims.
This is genuinely new, with the announcement and coverage dated September 16–18, 2026, and no indication of recirculation from an earlier year.
We previously covered the 2021 confirmation of 2M0437b, then described as one of the youngest planets ever found, and in 2025 reported on the first direct image of a protoplanet forming in a disk—both earlier milestones in the same field of young exoplanet discovery.