Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2025 August 27
    [2]A dark field has a series of light-colored elliptical rings in the
    center. Between two of the rings is a yellow-colored spot. Please see
               the explanation for more detailed information.

                WISPIT 2b: Exoplanet Carves Gap in Birth Disk
                  Image Credit: [3]ESO, [4]VLT, [5]SPHERE;
   Processing & Copyright: [6]ESO, [7]Richelle van Capelleveen ([8]Leiden
                              Obs.) [9]et al.;
                      Text: [10]Ogetay Kayali ([11]MTU)

   Explanation: That yellow spot -- what is it? It's a young [12]planet
   outside our Solar System. The [13]featured image from the [14]Very
   Large Telescope in [15]Chile surprisingly captures a distant scene much
   like our own Solar System's birth, some 4.5 billion years ago. Although
   we can't look into [16]the past and see Earth's formation directly,
   telescopes [17]let us watch similar processes unfolding around distant
   stars. At the center of this frame lies a young Sun-like star, hidden
   behind a [18]coronagraph that blocks its bright glare. Surrounding the
   star is a bright, dusty [19]protoplanetary disk -- the raw material of
   planets. [20]Gaps and concentric rings mark where a newborn world is
   gathering gas and dust under its gravity, clearing the way as it orbits
   the star. Although astronomers [21]have imaged disk-embedded planets
   before, this is the [22]first-ever observation of an exoplanet actively
   carving a gap within a disk -- the [23]earliest direct glimpse of
   planetary sculpting in action.

                      Tomorrow's picture: misty galaxy
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [35]Robert Nemiroff ([36]MTU) & [37]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([38]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [39]Specific rights apply.
            [40]NASA Web Privacy, [41]Accessibility, [42]Notices;
                A service of: [43]ASD at [44]NASA / [45]GSFC,
                         [46]NASA Science Activation
                           & [47]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2508/Wispit4b_eso_960.jpg
   3. https://www.eso.org/
   4. https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/
   5. https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/instruments/sphere.html
   6. https://www.eso.org/
   7. https://richellevc.github.io/
   8. https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/science/astronomy
   9. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/adf721
  10. https://www.ogetay.com/
  11. https://www.mtu.edu/physics/
  12. https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanets/
  13. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/adf721
  14. https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/
  15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240701.html
  17. https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https://preview.redd.it/cat-astronomer-v0-q8bmzvh7if7c1.png?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=d804336492d4dc990f6471b0078ab4b42f025384
  18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronagraph
  19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protoplanetary_disk
  20. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/science-highlights/finding-planetary-construction-zones/
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231017.html
  22. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/adf721
  23. https://www.astronomie.nl/nieuws/en/discovery-of-the-first-ring-shaping-embedded-planet-around-a-young-solar-analog-4637
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250826.html
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  28. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  30. https://apod.com/feed.rss
  31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  33. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=250827
  34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250828.html
  35. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  36. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  37. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  38. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  39. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  40. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  41. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/
  42. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/
  43. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  44. https://www.nasa.gov/
  45. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  46. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  47. http://www.mtu.edu/