September Astronomers have confirmed what is currently the youngest known planet, a Jupiter-sized world that is less than one million years old and is still surrounded by the gas and dust left over from its formation.

The planet, named Elias 2-24 b, is located about 450 light-years from Earth. Unlike most known exoplanets, which are billions of years old, this young world is still embedded in the environment where planets are forming.

A Planet Still Being Born

Elias 2-24 b is orbiting a very young star surrounded by a large disk of gas and dust. Astronomers believe planets form from material within these disks, gradually accumulating gas, dust, ice and rock.

Observations indicate that Elias 2-24 b is still accreting material from its surrounding disk, giving scientists an unusual opportunity to study a giant planet while it is still growing.

The planet is approximately Jupiter-sized and sits in a prominent gap within the disk around its host star. Such gaps can be created as forming planets gather material and influence the surrounding disk.

Decade-Old Mystery Finally Resolved

Astronomers had previously detected a gap in the Elias 2-24 disk using observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).

Later observations from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope revealed a faint object within the gap. Scientists suspected that it could be a young planet, but confirming its identity was difficult because of the enormous distance and the brightness of its host star.

Researchers eventually searched archival observations from the W. M. Keck Observatory and found the same object in observations made in 2018 and 2020. Tracking its movement helped demonstrate that it was orbiting the young star rather than being a distant background object.

Planet Formation Models Face a Challenge

The discovery is significant because Elias 2-24 b appears to have formed remarkably quickly.

The planet is located roughly 55 times farther from its star than Earth is from the Sun. At such a large distance, existing models generally suggest that forming a Jupiter-mass planet should take considerably longer than the age estimated for this system.

The discovery therefore provides astronomers with a new test for theories describing how giant planets form.

Researchers say current planet-formation models may be missing important processes that can allow massive planets to develop much faster than previously expected.

A Rare Opportunity for Scientists

Most of the thousands of confirmed exoplanets are relatively old. Young planets are much harder to detect because they remain hidden within thick clouds of gas and dust surrounding newborn stars.

Elias 2-24 b offers scientists an opportunity to observe a planetary system at a stage that is normally difficult to see.

Studying the planet could help researchers understand how giant worlds acquire their mass, how planetary gaps develop in young disks and how planetary systems evolve during their earliest stages.

Future Telescopes Could Find More Baby Planets

Astronomers expect the discovery of more young planets as increasingly powerful instruments become available.

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which launched in August 2026, carries a coronagraph designed to block the glare of stars and make faint objects around them easier to detect. Researchers expect Roman to expand the search for young and distant planets.

The discovery of Elias 2-24 b demonstrates how combining observations from different telescopes with archival data can reveal planets that were previously hidden from view.

For scientists, the young world is more than a new exoplanet record: it provides a rare laboratory for studying planet formation in action.