First image of a sun and two exoplanets circling a Sun-like star has been captured

The image shows two giant exoplanets (centre and bottom right) circulating the Sun-like star (top left).
The image shows two giant exoplanets (centre and bottom right) circulating the Sun-like star (top left). Photo credit: ESO / Bohn et al.

The first ever direct image of a sun with two exoplanets orbiting it beyond our solar system has been captured.

Astronomers in Chile have been the first to capture our Multi-Planet system, about 300 light-years away.

It shows two giant exoplanets circling a young, Sun-like star (TYC 8998-760-1).

The image was taken by the SPHERE instrument on European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT).

The SPHERE helped capture the two planets by using a device called coronagraph, to block the light from the young, Sun-like star.

The two planets can be seen in the image as two bright dots in the centre (TYC 8998-760-1b) and bottom right (TYC 8998-760-1c), according to ESO.

"This discovery is a snapshot of an environment that is very similar to our Solar System, but at a much earlier stage of its evolution," says Alexander Bohn, PhD student at Leiden University and researcher of The Astrophysical Journal Letters published on Wednesday.

"Even though astronomers have indirectly detected thousands of planets in our galaxy, only a tiny fraction of these exoplanets have been directly imaged," says co-author Matthew Kenworthy, Associate Professor at Leiden University.

These observations can help astronomers understand how planets are formed and evolved around our Sun.