"Revealing the Flat Truth: Jupiter's Surprising Past and Baby Exoplanets' Shape"

New simulations suggest that gas giant protoplanets may initially form as flattened oblate spheroids before settling into their familiar round shape, shedding light on the diverse ways planets can grow in the turbulent disks of dust and gas around young stars. This finding challenges the assumption that planets form as perfect spheres and provides insight into the process of disk instability planet formation. The research, conducted by astrophysicists at the University of Central Lancashire, has been accepted into Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters and offers valuable implications for understanding and interpreting developing planets in stellar disks.