SAO 206462 is a young star, surrounded by a circumstellar disk of gas and spirals arms clearly defined. It is situated about 460 years-light away from Earth in the constellation Lupus. The presence of these spirals arms seems to be related with the existence of planets inside the disk of gas surrounding the star. The disk's diameter is about twice the size of the orbit of Pluto.
Discovery
The discovery was presented in October 2011 by Carol Grady, astronomer of Eureka Scientific, that possesses his headquarters in the Centre Goddard for Space Flights, at NASA, being the first of this class that exhibit a high degree of clarity. It was made using several space telescopes (Hubble, FUSE, Spitzer) and earth telescopes (observatory Gemini and telescope Subaru, situated in Hawaii), through an international program of research of young stars and of stars with planets. A number of astronomers of different observatories collaborated.