Orbital telescope Spitzer has just paid for itself:
NASA is reporting that one of its space telescopes has discovered what scientists believe might be the youngest planet ever identified, at less than 1 million years old. In its first major findings, announced Thursday, the Spitzer Space Telescope also has shown that protostars, or developing stars, are quite common and that the planetary construction zones around infant stars have considerable ice that could produce future oceans....The young planet is in the constellation Taurus, 420 light-years away — quite close by astronomy standards. It is believed to be on the inner edge of a planet-forming dusty disk that encircles a 1-million-year-old star.
According to other reports, the star's youth throws into question some currently held theories on the chronology of planet creation. Now, of course, we'll be watching this moment of solar formation for the rest of our lives as if it were stuck in time — one of mortality's occupational hazards, like a mayfly watching one day's construction of a cathedral. Our study, as always, depends on stars in different stages of their lives. Here's to finding more.