AB Aur - Spiral protoplantary disk with embedded protoplanet?

ESO Telescope Sees Signs of Planet Birth
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2008/?lang

Quote :

Observations made with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) have revealed the telltale signs of a star system being born. Around the young star AB Aurigae lies a dense disc of dust and gas in which astronomers have spotted a prominent spiral structure with a ‘twist’ that marks the site where a planet may be forming. The observed feature could be the first direct evidence of a baby planet coming into existence.

Paper:
https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso2008/eso2008a.pdf

arXiv link:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.09064

Images of embedded Jovian planet formation at a wide separation around AB Aurigae
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-022-01634-x

Quote :

Direct images of protoplanets embedded in disks around infant stars provide the key to understanding the formation of gas giant planets such as Jupiter. Using the Subaru Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope, we find evidence for a Jovian protoplanet around AB Aurigae orbiting at a wide projected separation (~93 au), probably responsible for multiple planet-induced features in the disk. Its emission is reproducible as reprocessed radiation from an embedded protoplanet. We also identify two structures located at 430–580 au that are candidate sites of planet formation. These data reveal planet formation in the embedded phase and a protoplanet discovery at wide, >50 au separations characteristic of most imaged exoplanets. With at least one clump-like protoplanet and multiple spiral arms, the AB Aur system may also provide the evidence for a long-considered alternative to the canonical model for Jupiter’s formation, namely disk (gravitational) instability.

Finally a (rather) secure imaged planet out there!