Skip to main content

ALMA'S IMAGE OF A NEW PLANET FORMATION IN A BINARY STARS SYSTEM

A composite image of the HD 142527 binary star system from data captured by ALMA shows a distinctive arc of dust (red) and a ring of carbon monoxide (blue and green). The red arc is free of gas, suggesting the carbon monoxide has "frozen out", forming a layer of frost on the dust grains in that region. Astronomers speculate this frost provides a boost to planet formation. The two dots in the center represent the two stars in the system.
Credit: Andrea Isella/Rice University; B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF); ALMA (NRAO/ESO/NAOJ)


The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has observed a new very early stage of planet formation around the binary star system HD 142527 (in the costellation of Lupus) and has provided fresh insights into the planet-forming potential of a binary system.


It is not clear how the planets form in a binary stars system. Observational evidence reveals that planets form and maintain surprisingly stable orbits around double stars disproving the theoretical models that suggest that the gravitational tug-of-war between two stellar bodies would send young planets into eccentric orbits, possibly ejecting them completely from their home system or sending them crashing into their stars.

ALMA's new, high-resolution images of HD 142527 show a broad elliptical ring around the double star (main star ~ 2 Msun - companion star ~1/3 Msun). The stars are separated by approximately one billion miles: a little more than the distance from the Sun to Saturn. The disk begins incredibly far from the central star - about 50 times the Sun-Earth distance. Most of it consists of gases, including two forms of carbon monoxide (13CO and C180), but there is a noticeable dearth of gases within a huge arc of dust that extends nearly a third of the way around the star system.

Image: Artist impression of the HD 142527 binary star system based on data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The rendition shows a distinctive arc of dust (red) embedded in the protoplanetary disk. The red arc is free of gas, suggesting the carbon monoxide has "frozen out", forming a layer of frost on the dust grains in that region. Astronomers speculate this frost provides a boost to planet formation. The two dots in the center represent the two stars in the system. Credit: B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF)


This crescent-shaped dust cloud may be the result of gravitational forces unique to binary stars and may also be the key to the formation of planets. The current theoretical models suggest that small dust grains and pockets of gas eventually come together under gravity, forming larger and larger agglomerations and eventually asteroids and planets. The fine points of this process are not well understood, however. By studying a wide range of protoplanetary disks with ALMA, astronomers hope to better understand the conditions that set the stage for planet formation across the Universe.

The full story is available here>>
▪ ALMA Unveils Details of Planet Formation around Binary Star

Etichette:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Forest of Molecular Signals in Star Forming Galaxy

Spiral Galaxy NGC 253. Credit: ESO Astronomers found a rich molecular reservoir in the heart of an active star-forming galaxy with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Among eight clouds identified at the center of the galaxy NGC 253, one exhibits very complex chemical composition, while in the other clouds many signals are missing. This chemical richness and diversity shed light on the nature of the baby boom galaxy. Ryo Ando, a graduate student of the University of Tokyo, and his colleagues observed the galaxy NGC 253 and for the first time, they resolved the locations of star formation in this galaxy down to the scale of a molecular cloud, which is a star formation site with a size of about 30 light-years. As a result, they identified eight massive, dusty clouds aligned along the center of the galaxy. “With its unprecedented resolution and sensitivity, ALMA showed us the detailed structure of the clouds,” said Ando, the lead author of the research paper...
Post a Comment
Read more

Scientists detect comets outside our solar system

An artist’s conception of a view from within the Exocomet system KIC 3542116. Credit: Danielle Futselaar Team of professional and citizen scientists identifies tails of comets streaking past a distant star Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office Scientists from MIT and other institutions, working closely with amateur astronomers, have spotted the dusty tails of six exocomets — comets outside our solar system — orbiting a faint star 800 light years from Earth. These cosmic balls of ice and dust, which were about the size of Halley’s Comet and traveled about 100,000 miles per hour before they ultimately vaporized, are some of the smallest objects yet found outside our own solar system. The discovery marks the first time that an object as small as a comet has been detected using transit photometry, a technique by which astronomers observe a star’s light for telltale dips in intensity. Such dips signal potential transits, or crossings of planets or other objects in front of a star, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hubble Observes Exoplanet that Snows Sunscreen

This is an artist’s impression of the exoplanet Kepler-13Ab as compared in size to several of the planets in the Solar System. The behemoth exoplanet is six times more massive than Jupiter. Kepler-13Ab is also one of the hottest known planets, with a dayside temperature of about 2700 °C. It orbits very close to the star Kepler-13A, which lies at a distance of 1730 light-years from Earth. Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI) Nighttime Titanium Oxide Snow Leaves Dayside Cloud-Free and Cooler Travelers to the nightside of exoplanet Kepler-13Ab should pack an umbrella because they will be pelted with precipitation. But it's not the kind of watery precipitation that falls on Earth. On this alien world, the precipitation is in the form of sunscreen. Ironically, the sunscreen (titanium oxide) is not needed on this side of the planet because it never receives any sunlight. But bottling up some sunlight protection is a good idea if travelers plan on visiting the sizzling hot,...
Post a Comment
Read more