India, Sept. 18 -- Astronomers have confirmed a world that's less than a million years old as the youngest known planet, using data from NASA-funded archives. Called Elias 2-24 b, the baby planet is still whirling in its natal disk of dust and gas.
"Our planet-formation models already struggled to explain the previous record holders for the youngest known planet - a four-way tie between two planets orbiting the star PDS 70 and two planets orbiting the star WISPIT 2 - which are all more than 5 million years old," said Lucas Cieza, a professor at the Instituto de Estudios Astrofisicos in Chile and co-author of a paper detailing the results. "Elias 2-24 b shows us that even our best planet-formation models are still missing some important pro...