**Youngest Transiting Planet Ever Discovered by Graduate Student**

A groundbreaking discovery has been made in the realm of space exploration, as a graduate student from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill identified the youngest transiting planet known to date. This astonishing find was made by Madyson Barber, who while studying young transiting systems, observed data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.

Barber detected "little dips" in the brightness of stars over time, suggesting the presence of a transiting planet passing close to Earth. This rare celestial body, named IRAS 04125+2902 b, is estimated to be just 3 million years old. To put this in perspective, Earth, which took around 10 to 20 million years to form, is about 4.5 billion years old. The next youngest known planet is roughly 10 million years old, making this new discovery exceptionally young in comparison.

Nicknamed TIDYE-1b, this planet boasts an orbital period of 8.83 days, a radius 10.7 times that of Earth, and about 30% the mass of Jupiter. It orbits a star of the same age, IRAS 04125+2902, located approximately 522 lightyears away from Earth. Researchers noticed unusual characteristics of this star, including a misaligned outer protoplanetary disk and a depleted inner disk, which made it possible to observe the transiting protoplanet.

These unique features allowed scientists to study TIDYE-1b without obstructions that typically occur in other planetary disks. Calculations regarding the planet's upper mass limit were determined by monitoring the radial velocity of its star. Based on these observations, researchers hypothesize the planet’s actual mass may be significantly smaller.

Barber emphasized the importance of finding more young transiting systems to gain a better understanding of planetary formation and evolution. This young planet presents an invaluable opportunity for studying the early stages of planet formation due to its age, disk misalignment, and proximity to Earth. Researchers believe that IRAS 04125+2902 b could serve as a precursor to super-Earth and sub-Neptune planets often found orbiting main-sequence stars.