Astronomers Confirm Youngest Known Planet Under One Million Years

Astronomers have confirmed that Elias 2-24 b is the youngest known planet, less than 1 million years old and still forming within the disk of gas and dust around its young star, about 450 light-years from Earth. By combining archival observations from multiple telescopes, researchers tracked the object and confirmed it was a planet rather than a background star or imaging artifact. Its unusual youth offers a rare opportunity to study the earliest stages of planet formation and could help refine theories about how giant worlds develop.