From astronauts looping around the moon to spacecraft reaching Mercury and asteroids near Earth, 2026 is shaping up to be a landmark year for space exploration.
Planets form inside swirling discs of gas and dust surrounding newborn stars, hidden that make them extraordinarily difficult to detect. Astronomers know these protoplanetary discs contain the raw ingredients for planetary systems because our own Solar System condensed from such a disc 4.6 billion years ago, but actually spotting planets while they’re still forming has remained one of astronomy’s great challenges. Until now, very few planets have been confirmed around stars that are still in their infancy.
