A young protoplanet candidate embedded in the circumstellar disk of HD100546

TL;DR

This paper reports high-contrast imaging of HD100546 revealing a potential young protoplanet at about 47 AU, supporting the idea of ongoing planet formation within the circumstellar disk.

Contribution

First direct imaging evidence of a candidate protoplanet embedded in the disk of HD100546, suggesting active planet formation.

Findings

Detection of an emission source at ~47 AU from HD100546

Source coincides with a polarization deficit in near-infrared data

Data favor a scenario of a forming planet within the disk

Abstract

We present high-contrast observations of the circumstellar environment of the Herbig Ae/Be star HD100546. The final 3.8 micron image reveals an emission source at a projected separation of 0.48"+-0.04" (corresponding to ~47+-4 AU at a position angle of 8.9+-0.9 degree. The emission appears slightly extended with a point source component with an apparent magnitude of 13.2+-0.4 mag. The position of the source coincides with a local deficit in polarization fraction in near-infrared polarimetric imaging data, which probes the surface of the well-studied circumstellar disk of HD100546. This suggests a possible physical link between the emission source and the disk. Assuming a disk inclination of ~47 degree the de-projected separation of the object is ~68 AU. Assessing the likelihood of various scenarios we favor an interpretation of the available high-contrast data with a planet in the process of forming. Follow-up observations in the coming years can easily distinguish between the different possible scenarios empirically. If confirmed, HD100546 "b" would be a unique laboratory to study the formation process of a new planetary system, with one giant planet currently forming in the disk and a second planet possibly orbiting in the disk gap at smaller separations.