Speaker
Description
Recent direct imaging surveys like YSES and BEAST have revealed a population of young, super-Jupiter exoplanets at extreme distances from their host stars (>100 AU). These discoveries challenge planet formation theory which struggles to explain how such massive planets are formed so far away from their stars. Proposed mechanisms include in-situ formation through cloud fragmentation or disk gravitational instability, both of which occur on short timescales (~10,000 years). If these proposed processes are responsible, then the frequency of these wide-orbit planets is expected to remain consistent across different stellar ages. The WiSPIT survey, a snapshot survey targeting 178 solar-mass stars significantly younger than those covered by previous surveys, puts this to the test. We present one of the exciting first results of this survey: two wide-orbit gas giants around solar-type binary WiSPIT 1 with estimated masses of ~$10\,\mathrm{M_{J}}$ and ~$4\,\mathrm{M_{J}}$. This marks the first direct detection of a multi-planet system around a solar-type binary, offering new insights into planet formation at wide separations.
| Talk category | NOVA Network 2 |
|---|---|
| Preference for a talk or poster | Talk |
| Talk preference for PhD students | 2nd year PhD candidate |
