One of NASA's space telescopes has discovered what scientists believe may be the youngest planet ever spied -- a celestial body that at 1 million years old or less is a cosmic toddler.
In its first major findings, announced Thursday, the Spitzer Space Telescope also has shown that protostars, or developing stars, "are as common as the cicadas in the trees here on the East Coast" and that the planetary construction zones around infant stars have considerable ice that could be capable of producing oceans.
"Oh, my goodness, it knocked our socks off," University of Wisconsin astronomer Ed Churchwell said of the trio of discoveries.
Spitzer is an infrared telescope that has been orbiting the sun and studying the universe since last summer.
It did not actually "see" the toddler planet, but yielded evidence that enabled scientists to infer its existence.
The object is in the constellation Taurus, 420 light-years away -- quite close by astronomy standards.
It is believed to be on the inner edge of a planet-forming dusty disk that encircles a 1-million-year-old star.
University of Rochester astronomer Dan Watson said a sharply defined hole in the middle of the disk suggests that a planet created the opening. That gaseous planet would have been formed at some time since the star's formation.
By comparison, the Earth and the rest of the solar system are 4.5 billion years old. And up until now, the youngest planets observed around other stars were a few billion years old.
Astronomer Deborah Padgett at the Carnegie Institution of Washington cautioned that instead of a planet, the gap in the dusty disk could be caused by asteroid formation or a smaller unseen stellar companion. She said it is also possible that the heat and light of the star are forming the gap by blowing all the dusty material out.
However, she said that it is "very likely" a planet, and that additional research by Spitzer and future spacecraft should settle the debate.
The Hubble Space Telescope previously observed the star -- named CoKu Tau 4 -- but could not make out such details.
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