Astronomers get first look at a baby planet being born
The rotation in the middle of the disk could one day be the location of a new planet.
ESO / Boccaletti et al.
Scientists see signs that a new planet could form about 520 light years from Earth.
Images from the European Southern Observatory Very large telescope (ESOs VLT) show a “dense disk of dust and gas” near a young star named AB Aurigae. Not only that, but the disk shows a spiral structure with a twist that, according to scientists, indicates the beginnings of a new planet. The Results have been published Wednesday in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
“We have to observe very young systems to really capture the moment when planets form,” said Anthony Boccaletti, who led the study from PSL University’s Observatoire de Paris in France, in a statement. So far, however, scientists have not been able to take photos “sharp and deep” enough.
Anne Dutrey, another co-author of the paper, explained the spirals and twists as follows: “[The twist] corresponds to the connection of two spirals – one winds inwards into the orbit of the planet, the other expands outwards – which connect at the location of the planet. They let gas and dust come from the disk onto the planet that is being formed and let it grow. “
In other words, the rotation in the center of the disc is where the planet is supposed to take shape.
ESO is building another telescope called Extremely Large Telescope, which, according to Boccaletti, will help to better examine the exact shape of the planet.
However, it is time. The paper states that the process of forming a new planet could take several million years.
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