Meet TI-DYE 1b, the newly discovered exoplanet that could help us understand how planets are made

Since astronomers first began detecting exoplanets – planets beyond our solar system – in the 1990s, they have come across thousands of worlds, large and small. But few have ever been found as young as TI-DYE 1b.The fledgling orb (pronounced “TIE-DYE 1b”) is estimated to be three million years old, or about 0.07 per cent the age of Earth. That alone makes it a potential Rosetta Stone for understanding the process by which planets are made.