Telescope Spots What Might Be Youngest Planet

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 produce future oceans.

“Oh, my goodness, it knocked our socks off,” University of Wisconsin astronomer Ed Churchwell said of the discoveries.

Spitzer is an infrared telescope 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.