Letter to the Editor

Observation of an accreting planetary-mass companion with signs of disc–disc interaction in Orion^⋆

¹ Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Université de Toulouse, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, 31028 Toulouse, France
² Astronomy Unit, School of Physics and Astronomy, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
³ AURA for the European Space Agency, ESA Office, STScI, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
⁴ NASA Ames Research Center, MS 245-6, Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000, USA
⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6G 2V4, Canada
⁶ Institute for Earth and Space Exploration, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada
⁷ SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA
⁸ Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), INTA-CSIC, Carretera de Ajalvir Km. 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain
⁹ Instituto de Física Fundamental (Consejo Superior de Investigacion Cientifica), 28006 Madrid, Spain
¹⁰ Department of Astronomy, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
¹¹ Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Dr., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
¹² Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy, 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
¹³ Physikalischer Verein, Gesellschaft für Bildung und Wissenschaft, Robert-Mayer-Str. 2, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
¹⁴ Institut für Angewandte Physik, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

^⋆⋆ Corresponding author: paul.amiot@gmail.com

Received: 8 September 2025
Accepted: 27 October 2025

Abstract

Young (≲10 Myr) planetary-mass companions (PMCs) provide valuable insights into the formation and early evolution of planetary systems. To date, only a dozen such objects have been identified through direct imaging. Using JWST/NIRCam observations towards the Orion Nebula, obtained as part of the PDRs4All Early Release Science program, we have identified a faint point source near the M-type star V2376 Ori, a member of Orion D, around 80 pc in the foreground of the Trapezium cluster of Orion and with an age of approximately 7 ± 3 Myr. Follow-up spectroscopic observations with the MUSE instrument on the VLT confirm that the source, V2376 Ori b, is indeed a young PMC. We fit the SED of V2376 Ori b and infer a mass of ∼20 M_Jup with evolutionary tracks. The MUSE spectrum reveals several accretion tracers. Based on the Hα line intensity, we estimate an accretion rate of ∼10^{−6.6 ± 0.2} M_Jup yr⁻¹, which is comparable to that of young PMCs such as PDS 70b. In addition, the MUSE data cube reveals extended emission in the [O II] doublet at 7320 and 7330 Å, which is interpreted as evidence of a dynamical interaction between the two sources that potentially involves mass transfer between their individual accretion discs. These results demonstrate that JWST/NIRCam imaging surveys of young stellar associations can uncover new PMCs, which can then be confirmed and characterized through ground-based spectroscopic follow-up.