Category: 7. Science

  • The Southern Ocean Shift: A Warning Sign in Global Climate Circulation

    The Southern Ocean Shift: A Warning Sign in Global Climate Circulation

    A new scientific study sent a quiet but serious signal through the climate science community last week: researchers have detected a shift in the Southern Ocean’s circulation patterns. While the mainstream media barely registered the news, this finding could have significant implications for global climate dynamics and the resilience of Earth’s systems. The study, powered by satellite innovations, challenges longstanding climate model predictions and offers a fresh lens into one of the most remote yet critical regions on the planet.

    Why does this matter? The ocean plays a key role in regulating global climate by distributing heat and storing carbon. Any change in the way its currents move or how its waters mix can ripple out to affect weather patterns, ice melt, and greenhouse gas release. In this post, we’ll unpack what this shift means, explore the risks, look at how ocean currents shape global climate, and highlight why ecosystem resilience may be our best ally in an era of accelerating change.

    The risks of shifting waters

    The core finding of the study is the detection of increased salinity at the surface of the Southern Ocean. This contradicts previous expectations that melting ice would make surface waters fresher. Saltier water is denser, and this density shift allows deep, warmer water to rise toward the surface — a process known as upwelling. That upwelling can, in turn, accelerate the melting of sea ice, releasing stored heat and CO2 (both dissolved in deeper waters and locked in the continental ice) into the atmosphere, which may intensify global warming.

    These changes don’t operate in isolation. The Southern Ocean plays a crucial role in absorbing excess heat and carbon from the atmosphere. A disruption in its circulation could weaken this function, creating a feedback loop where warming leads to more warming. If these upwelling events become more frequent, they could destabilize not just regional systems but also larger-scale patterns like rainfall distribution and storm intensity across the Southern Hemisphere, and eventually, the rest of the planet.

    The large-scale nature of climate

    Earth’s climate is a vast, interconnected system shaped by interactions between the atmosphere, oceans, land, ice, and ecosystems. Solar radiation is distributed unevenly across the planet, warming the equator more than the poles. This temperature imbalance sets air and water in motion, creating the engine behind weather and climate. The ocean and atmosphere are tightly coupled: winds drive surface currents, while the ocean stores and redistributes heat, shaping pressure systems and wind patterns in return.

    One of the most critical components of this system is the global ocean circulation, often called the Ocean Conveyor Belt<. Near the equator, warm, less dense water rises and fuels the atmosphere with moisture. At the poles, colder, denser water sinks, making space for warm water to flow in. This movement creates a planetary-scale conveyor that transports heat, nutrients, and carbon around the world. A shift in any part of this system, such as shifts in the Antarctic Ocean, could have far-reaching consequences for global climate stability.

    The overturning circulation of the global ocean. Throughout the Atlantic Ocean, the circulation carries warm waters (red arrows) northward near the surface and cold deep waters (blue arrows) southward. Image credit: NASA, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Overturning_circulation_of_the_global_ocean.jpg. File is in the Public Domain.

    Reading the signs

    Although the detection of increased salinity and upwelling in the Southern Ocean is concerning, it doesn’t yet signal a full-scale breakdown of global circulation. Climate and ocean systems operate on seasonal, decadal, and even multidecadal cycles. The observed changes may be part of natural variability rather than a permanent shift. What matters now is monitoring how often these events occur, and whether their frequency is increasing compared to the past.

    This is where ecosystem resilience becomes essential. Healthy marine ecosystems can absorb some of the shocks from climate variability, helping to stabilize key processes even as conditions shift. But their ability to do so depends on the pressures we place on them. As warming accelerates and ocean circulation patterns change, safeguarding ecosystem resilience becomes a critical line of defense. Investing in science, policy, and conservation isn’t just prudent, it’s urgent. For now, the study serves as a powerful reminder: the Earth is speaking. It’s up to us to listen and respond.

    Teaser image credit: Antarctica Melts Under Its Hottest Days on Record. Credit NASA, Public Domain.

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  • How To See Monday’s Rare Moon-Mars Conjunction — Then ‘Shooting Stars’

    How To See Monday’s Rare Moon-Mars Conjunction — Then ‘Shooting Stars’

    Topline

    Skywatchers across the globe can witness a stunning conjunction of the moon and Mars shortly after sunset on Monday, July 28. Visible low in the west, the striking pair will be visible during twilight in the western sky before setting a few hours later. That evening, shooting stars are expected as both the Southern delta Aquariids and the alpha Capricornids meteor showers peak.

    Key Facts

    The conjunction of the moon and Mars will be best seen about 45 minutes after sunset and be visible for around an hour before setting in the west.

    A clear view of the western horizon is recommended. Although it will be easily visible to the naked eye as twilight takes hold, binoculars will make it easier to scan the sky. The moon will be below and slightly to the left of Mars.

    The waxing crescent moon will be 19%-illuminated, with its night side bathed in Earthshine — sunlight reflected from Earth’s ice caps, clouds and oceans onto the lunar surface,

    Mars won’t be at its peak brightness — that happened last January — but its distinct reddish hue will be obvious as it gets darker.

    If Clouds Block Your View

    Although the conjunction will only be visible for one night, if it’s cloudy, it’s worth looking again the next night. On Tuesday, July 29, the waxing crescent moon will be 27%-illuminated and still be displaying Earthshine. Instead of being beneath Mars, it will be alongside it. The moon will be on the left and Mars on the right above due west.

    Observing Mars In 2025

    Mars reached opposition on Jan. 16, when it made its closest approach to Earth since 2022. It’s been prominent for most of the year and will continue to be visible shortly after sunset for a few months, eventually becoming lost in the sun’s glare in late November. Mars will next come to opposition on Feb. 19, 2027.

    Three Meteor Showers Peak

    Just hours after observing the moon-Mars conjunction, two meteor showers will peak — the Southern delta Aquariids and the alpha Capricornids. Expect up to 25 shooting stars per hour from the Southern delta Aquariid meteor shower. Although the Alpha Capricornids contribute just five shooting stars per hour at their peak, they tend to include bright and colorful fireballs, according to the American Meteor Society. The Piscis Austrinid meteor shower will peak the previous night, in the early hours of July 28, with about five meteors per hour possible, according to In-The-Sky.org. With the crescent moon and Mars setting a few hours after sunset, July 28-29 will be an excellent night for stargazing and looking for shooting stars if the skies are clear.

    Further Reading

    ForbesWhen To See June’s ‘Strawberry Moon,’ The Lowest Full Moon Since 2006By Jamie CarterForbesNASA Urges Public To Leave The City As Milky Way Appears — 15 Places To GoBy Jamie CarterForbesGet Ready For The Shortest Day Since Records Began As Earth Spins FasterBy Jamie Carter

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  • Tiny, pea-sized dinosaur bone discovered in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert has scientists gobsmacked at what it means

    Tiny, pea-sized dinosaur bone discovered in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert has scientists gobsmacked at what it means

    The wrists of birds are incredibly complex and functionally crucial in both flight and the folding of wings at rest, says Will Newton. 

    To stabilise their wings during flight, birds rely on a tiny bone known as the pisiform. This bone was long thought to have been lost in the early ancestors of birds, only returning as they started to take to the skies and evolve into the birds we know today.

    However, CT scans of two small, flightless theropod dinosaurs – an unnamed troodontid and an oviraptor known as Citipati from the Late Cretaceous (75 to 71 million years ago) – have revealed the presence of pisiforms in their wrists. These dinosaurs were discovered in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert and recently prepared for close examination.

    “Wrist bones are small and even when they are preserved, they are not in the positions they would occupy in life, having shifted during decay and preservation,” said Alex Ruebenstahl,  a co-author of the new study, in an associated press release. “Seeing this little bone in the right position cracked it wide open and helped us interpret the wrists of fossils we had on hand and other fossils described in the past.”

    Prior to this study,  pisiforms were only identified in the earliest theropod dinosaurs – a group of meat-eating dinosaurs that includes famous species such as T.rex and Velociraptor.

    The discovery of pisiforms in the wrists of the aforementioned theropod dinosaurs suggests the bone ‘re-appeared’ a lot earlier than first thought. It also established its presence in Oviraptorosauria and Troodontidae, in addition to later birds.

    Based on their discovery, Ruebenstahl, lead author James Napoli, and co-authors Matteo Fabbri, Jingmai O’Connor, Bhart-Anjan Bhullar, and Mark Norell examined fossils from a wide range of theropod species, including Microraptor,Ambopteryx, and Caudipteryx. Knowing what to look for, the team found pisiforms in all three of these dinosaurs and more.

    A key change in the transformation of forelimbs to wings was the replacement of another wrist bone – the ulnare – with the pisiform. “The pisiform, in living birds, is an unusual wrist bone in that it initially forms within a muscle tendon, as do bones like your kneecap – but it comes to occupy the position of a ‘normal’ wrist bone called the ulnare,” said co-author Bhullar.

    The results of this new study indicate the pisiform replaced the ulnare before the origin of the clade Pennaraptora – a group of raptor-like dinosaurs who can trace their roots all the way back to the Late Jurassic, roughly 160 million years ago.

    This pushes back one of the key mechanisms in the origin of bird flight by tens of millions of years. It also quashes the previous assumption that flight-stabilising pisiform bones were a novelty restricted to just birds; they were also present in near-bird dinosaurs who were just starting to experiment with the power of flight.

    This study is published in the journal Nature and is a collaboration by palaeontologists from Stony Brook University, Yale University, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences.

    Main image: A life reconstruction of the specimen of Citipati, a dinosaur closely related to birds, analyzed with an x-ray cutaway of the specimen’s wrist. The small and rounded pisiform is highlighted in blue.

    Credit: A life reconstruction of the specimen of Citipati, a dinosaur closely related to birds, analyzed with an x-ray cutaway of the specimen’s wrist. The small and rounded pisiform is highlighted in blue. © Henry S. Sharpe/University of Alberta

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  • Identification and profiling of novel metagenome assembled uncultivated virus genomes from human gut | Virology Journal

    Identification and profiling of novel metagenome assembled uncultivated virus genomes from human gut | Virology Journal

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  • NASA’s Hubble Spots Blinding Explosion in a Distant Spiral Galaxy – SciTechDaily

    1. NASA’s Hubble Spots Blinding Explosion in a Distant Spiral Galaxy  SciTechDaily
    2. 7 Most Beautiful Pictures Of Milky Way Clicked By NASA Hubble Space Telescope  Times Now
    3. Hubble Space Telescope Gazes at Swirling Spiral Galaxy  Sci.News
    4. 8 Beautiful Milky Way Pictures Captured By NASA Hubble Space Telescope  Times Now

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  • Targeted starfish control boosts coral recovery on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef: study-Xinhua

    SYDNEY, July 25 (Xinhua) — New research shows that controlling crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) is boosting coral growth on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef despite increasing environmental pressures.

    Targeted removal of coral-eating starfish significantly increased coral cover on most monitored reefs, according to a statement released Friday by Australia’s University of Queensland (UQ), which led the study.

    “Our simulations showed that COTS control led to increased coral cover in about 85 percent of cases, with roughly one-third of reefs experiencing more than 10 percent growth,” said Tina Skinner, researcher at UQ’s School of the Environment, the study’s first author.

    The benefits of starfish control persisted and sometimes increased over time, despite intensifying climate pressures like rising ocean temperatures, Skinner said.

    She noted that benefits from COTS control extended beyond treated reefs to neighbors, due to less COTS larvae movement and more healthy coral larvae aiding regional recovery.

    “The reefs that haven’t seen direct COTS control work or any nearby fared worse,” Skinner added.

    The study used a detailed ecosystem model of all 3,806 reefs along the 2,300km Great Barrier Reef, incorporating real data on starfish outbreaks, control efforts, and environmental conditions projected to 2040.

    Although COTS management covers less than 10 percent of the Great Barrier Reef, the study’s co-author, UQ Professor Peter Mumby said the study highlights key areas where interventions are most effective, guiding future efforts.

    The research, published in the Journal of Environmental Management in London, highlighted that controlling COTS is only part of reef protection, stressing the need to reduce emissions to prevent climate-driven damage and preserve coral gains beyond 2040. ■

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  • Mysterious object is moving in sync with Neptune

    Mysterious object is moving in sync with Neptune

    Out near the icy frontier of our solar system, astronomers have spotted a small world that keeps near-perfect time with Neptune.

    The object, known as 2020 VN40, circles the Sun once for every ten laps completed by the blue giant, making it the first confirmed 10:1 partnership ever observed.


    The discovery adds a fresh piece to the outer-solar-system puzzle and hints at unseen swarms of bodies hiding in similar rhythms. This is a big step in understanding the outer solar system.

    The power of resonance

    In celestial mechanics a mean motion resonance occurs when two bodies complete orbits in a simple ratio. Neptune’s 3:2 Pluto resonance is classic, but the new 10:1 beat extends that pattern nearly nine billion miles farther.

    Neptune needs about 165 Earth years to circle the Sun, so 2020 VN40 takes roughly 1,650 years to complete its orbit. Yet the pair realign in space in a way that prevents close encounters.

    Such locks protect fragile worlds and show how giant planets once migrated through the early Kuiper Belt.

    Computer simulations show that Neptune’s strongest outer resonances, are prime parking spots for objects that wander outward and get caught in a process called scattering sticking.

    Theory suggests up to 40 percent of scattered bodies between 30–100 AU are briefly trapped before drifting off again.

    Resonances form when Neptune’s repeated tugs fall at the same point in an object’s path, much like a child’s timed pushes on a swing. Over thousands of cycles those gentle nudges pile up and lock the orbit.

    Finding Neptune’s partner object

    2020 VN40 popped up during the Large inclination Distant Objects, or LiDO, survey. The project uses the 3.6-meter Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) on Maunakea to sweep sky patches well above the ecliptic.

    By searching these high latitudes researchers target orbits that standard surveys often miss.

    Follow-up snapshots with the Gemini Observatory and Magellan Baade (IMACS) extended its observed arc to more than six years, nailing down a semimajor axis near 140 AU and an eccentricity of 0.73.

    At that distance the world receives less than one-tenth of one percent of the sunlight that warms Earth.

    Small bodies on tilted orbits

    After refining its path, the team combed archival Subaru images and spotted 2020 VN40 faintly shining in exposures from 2017. That pre-discovery catch stretched the observational arc to eight years and slashed the orbital uncertainty.

    “It has been fascinating to learn how many small bodies in the solar system exist on these very large, very tilted orbits,” noted Dr. Samantha Lawler of the University of Regina.

    She was referring to 2020 VN40’s 33-degree inclination, a tilt that takes it far above and below the plane of planetary traffic.

    A path that breaks the rules

    Most resonant objects approach the Sun when Neptune is far away, creating a safe orbital arrangement. By contrast 2020 VN40 reaches perihelion when Neptune looks nearby in projection, though the two never share the same altitude because of the pronounced tilt.

    “This new motion is like finding a hidden rhythm in a song we thought we knew,” said Ruth Murray-Clay from the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC).

    Surprisingly, simulations show 2020 VN40 follows a rare “eyehole” path, once thought possible only for the most extreme orbits.

    The zero-degree state appears only when the object’s tilt and eccentricity fall within a narrow range, making it a natural laboratory for testing high-inclination dynamics. Its behavior opens the possibility that other hidden islands exist in the dynamical map.

    Simulations show the object stays in resonance for tens to hundreds of millions of years before drifting off again.

    Clues to how Neptune roamed

    Distant resonators act like breadcrumbs left by the planet’s slow stroll outward billions of years ago. The newly filled 10:1 slot hints that Neptune’s migration shepherded debris much farther than the classical 3:2 and 2:1 regions.

    Because the resonance itself sits more than 8.6 billion miles out, the mere detection of a modest-sized body there implies a far larger unseen population.

    Simulations suggest hundreds or even thousands of kindred objects share the orbit, their faintness hiding them from today’s telescopes.

    As Neptune moved outward, its gravity scooped up distant debris like a snowplow – just as planet-migration theories predict. Each newly confirmed resonance gives modelers another point for tuning the planet’s migration speed and timing.

    Is Neptune drawing objects in?

    Next-generation surveys with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory are expected to multiply the tally of high-inclination resonators manyfold. “This is just the beginning,” said Kathryn Volk of the Planetary Science Institute (PSI).

    Rubin’s ten-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will reach several magnitudes deeper than current searches and will scan the full southern sky every few nights. That cadence will allow rapid tracking before objects drift into twilight.

    Each find will sharpen orbital models and help tell whether Neptune nudged these objects into place early on or simply lures them now and then. Either outcome teaches us how planets sculpt their neighborhoods.

    The study is published in The Planetary Science Journal.

    Image Credit: Rosemary Pike, CfA

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  • A star may have survived partial black hole spaghettification

    A star may have survived partial black hole spaghettification

    When a star strays too close to a supermassive black hole, extreme gravitational forces ravage it, shredding and stretching it into spaghetti. 

    The term for this gruesome process is actually “spaghettification,” according to NASA, inspired by Stephen Hawking’s book, A Brief History of Time. In it, the late theoretical physicist first described what would happen to a person approaching a black hole’s “event horizon” — its point of no return — in space.

    Astronomers used to think this was an immediate death sentence for a star. Now an international team, led by Tel Aviv University in Israel, has published the first confirmed case of a star surviving such a brush, only to return 700 days later for another go. 

    The findings, which appear in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, don’t contradict the concept of spaghettification but show that it could be a repeatable process for some stars, said Iair Arcavi, who supervised the research.

    “A star isn’t a uniform ball of matter,” Arcavi told Mashable. “The inner part is more dense, and the outer part is more ‘fluffy.’ So the outer part is more easily spaghettified. If the star kept to some distance from the black hole, it could avoid the denser parts from getting spaghettified, too.” 

    SEE ALSO:

    Milky Way’s central black hole may have scarfed down another black hole

    An image of Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s galactic center.
    Credit: Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration

    Black holes are some of the most inscrutable phenomena in the universe. They are regions in space where gravity is so intense that nothing, not even light, can escape. About 50 years ago, they were little more than a theory — a kooky mathematical solution to a physics problem. Even astronomers at the top of their field weren’t entirely convinced they existed. 

    Mashable Light Speed

    Today, not only are black holes accepted science, they’re getting their pictures taken by a collection of enormous, synced-up radio dishes on Earth. Humanity got a clear view of Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of the galaxy, for the first time in 2022. 

    Last year, Tel Aviv University researchers spotted a tidal disruption event (TDE) near the center of a galaxy about 400 million light-years away using the Las Cumbres Observatory, a network of robotic telescopes around the world, designed to keep a close eye on rapid cosmic events. These TDEs are bright flares that occur when a black hole is destroying a star. 

    What shocked them was that the flare was almost identical to another that occurred two years earlier, called AT 2022dbl, from the exact same location. After analyzing the data, scientists ruled out other explanations, like unrelated flares or gravitational lensing, and concluded that the same star was partially torn apart twice.

    Typically, when a star is pulled toward a black hole, its near side is stretched and pulled in while the far side is flung out. The resulting stream of gas and debris spirals around the black hole as it falls in — sort of like water circling a bathtub drain. These bursts of energy can outshine an entire galaxy, briefly illuminating the hidden black hole lurking at the heart of a galaxy.

    Over the past decade, astronomers have observed dozens of these flares. But one thing has perplexed them: Based on computer simulations, most of these events seem kind of weak. Previously, scientists had assumed the discrepancy between real and virtual flares has been due to knowledge gaps or the limitations of computer models.

    But AT 2022dbl’s repeating flare may offer a simpler explanation. The star may not have been completely annihilated on its first trip around the black hole. Then, like a masochist, it returned roughly two years later to be damaged again.

    The study suggests it’s possible many of these flares, once thought the calling cards of stellar death, aren’t necessarily fatal events. The question now is whether this particular star is finally dead or if it’ll be back again next year for more abuse.

    Either way, Arcavi said, astronomers will have to rethink these flares and what they say about the monsters lying in wait.

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  • 201 million years ago, abundant atmospheric gas triggered a mass extinction: Study says history may repeat itself |

    201 million years ago, abundant atmospheric gas triggered a mass extinction: Study says history may repeat itself |

    Nature has rewritten the rules of survival more than once throughout the history of existence, witnessing asteroid impacts, super volcanoes, and the causes of mass extinction. There are many reasons for the complete disappearance of species, and one of these silent killers is ocean acidification, which is due to the buildup of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere, which then dissolves into seawater and disrupts marine chemistry.While many people associate today’s rising CO₂ levels and warming oceans with modern industrial activity, similar events have happened in Earth’s distant past, even long before humans ever walked the planet.Scientists now believe that carbon-driven ocean acidification was a major factor in some of Earth’s most significant mass extinction events, and surprisingly, the patterns from the past look similar to what we’re experiencing today.A study that was published in Nature Communications sheds light on one such ancient crisis

    Representative Image

    Acidification of the ocean can be harmful to the Earth’s future

    Roughly 201 million years ago, at the boundary between the Triassic and Jurassic periods, Earth’s oceans went through a major crisis. New research from the University of St Andrews and the University of Birmingham has confirmed that a sharp and prolonged drop in ocean pH, caused by a massive carbon dioxide surge, contributed directly to a global extinction event.

    What was the study all about?

    The study, led by scientists including Dr. James Rae and Dr. Sarah Greene, is the first to fully reconstruct ancient ocean pH levels using boron isotopes found in fossil oysters. These specimens were collected from Lavernock Point in Wales, which showed a significant drop in pH by at least 0.29 units, possibly more than 0.41. According to the researchers, this corresponds to a CO₂ level over 1300 parts per million (ppm). For comparison, current CO₂ levels are around 420 ppm.“The geological record tells us that major CO₂ release transforms the face of our planet, acidifying the ocean, and causing mass extinction,” said Dr. Rae in the university press release. “We have to act fast to avoid these outcomes in our future.”

    Representative Image

    The carbon release, estimated at over 10,000 gigatons, was likely driven by volcanic activity as the supercontinent Pangaea began to break apart. The resulting acidification devastated coral reefs and shell-forming marine life, creating a “reef gap” that lasted hundreds of thousands of years.Dr. Greene said, “This warning from the past should give us fresh cause to step up efforts to reduce human greenhouse gas emissions.”Today’s acidification is happening even faster, making this ancient event a chilling parallel and a reminder that Earth doesn’t need an asteroid to spark a mass extinction. Sometimes, it can only be rising carbon levels due to pollution.


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  • Astronomers spot HD 135344B forming around a distant star

    Astronomers spot HD 135344B forming around a distant star

    image: ©teekid | iStock

    Astronomers have potentially captured the HD 135344B planet during its formation process, allowing for a new understanding of how planetary systems like ours come into existence

    Using the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, researchers have observed a young star, HD 135344B, surrounded by a disc of swirling gas and dust, with clear evidence of a planet carving out spiral arms within it.

    This discovery marks the first time scientists have directly detected a planet candidate embedded inside a spiral pattern in a protoplanetary disc, the material surrounding a young star from which planets form.

    A planet carving spirals

    The star HD 135344B, located 440 light-years away in the constellation Lupus, is enveloped by a dense protoplanetary disc. These discs often feature rings, gaps, and spiral structures believed to be shaped by the gravitational influence of forming planets. While previous studies had observed spiral arms in this system, none had successfully identified the presence of a planet causing the pattern until now.

    Using the VLT’s state-of-the-art ERIS (Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph) instrument, scientists detected a compact, bright signal at the base of one of the disc’s spiral arms. This signal is believed to be the light emitted by a planet still embedded in the disc, suggesting it is actively shaping the surrounding gas and dust as it grows.

    This planet candidate is estimated to be about twice the mass of Jupiter and lies at a distance from its star similar to Neptune’s orbit around the Sun.

    Planet hunting

    The ERIS instrument, installed on the VLT in 2022, is proving to be a game-changer for direct imaging of young planetary systems. It allows astronomers to look deeper into dusty regions around young stars and detect faint objects that older technologies may have overlooked.

    In the case of HD 135344B, ERIS enabled astronomers not only to see the spiral structures in greater detail but also to identify the likely cause: a forming planet. This represents a key step forward in confirming long-standing theories about how young planets influence their birth environments.

    A young system under the microscope

    In a separate but relevant study, another group of astronomers used ERIS to investigate a young star known as V960 Mon, also surrounded by a spiral-patterned disc. This system has exhibited signs of gravitational instability, where clumps of gas and dust collapse under their gravity, potentially leading to the formation of planets or brown dwarfs.

    The team found a compact, luminous object near one of the spiral arms. Though its exact nature is still uncertain, it could be either a forming planet or a brown dwarf, an object too large to be a planet but not massive enough to ignite as a star.

    If confirmed, this would be the first clear evidence of such an object forming through gravitational instability.

    These observations open up new opportunities to witness planet formation as it happens, offering clues to understanding how planets, including those in our own solar system, form and evolve.

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