Scientists spot rare Neptune-like planet

Scientists have discovered a planet about as large as Neptune that circles a nearby star which is still surrounded by a disk of debris left over from its formation.

Using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and retired Spitzer Space Telescope, the discovery, published in the journal Nature, makes the system a touchstone for understanding how stars and planets form and evolve.

The planet circles the young star, AU Microscopii, in just over a week.

The system, known as AU Mic for short, provides a one-of-a-kind laboratory for studying how planets and their atmospheres form, evolve and interact with their stars.

“AU Mic is a young, nearby M dwarf star. It’s surrounded by a vast debris disk in which moving clumps of dust have been tracked, and now, thanks to TESS and Spitzer, it has a planet with a direct size measurement,” said study co-author, Bryson Cale, a doctoral student at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, US.

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