by Cape Canaveral, Florida (AP) astronomers have discovered the earliest seeds of rocky planets, which form a sun-like star in the gas that offers a precious view of the dawn of our own solar system.
It is an unprecedented snapshot of “Time Zero”, scientists reported on Wednesday when new worlds start to yellow.
“We have gained a direct view of the hot region, in which rocky planets like Earth are born around young protostars,” said Melissa McClure from Leiden Observatory from the Netherlands, which was directed by the international research team. “For the first time, we can finally say that the first steps of planet formation are taking place.”
The observations offer a unique insight into the interior of an emerging planetary system, said the Fred Ciesla of the University of Chicago, which was not involved in the study that appeared in the Nature magazine.
“This is one of the things we have been waiting for. Astronomers have thought about how planetary systems form for a long time,” said Ciesla. “There is a rich chance here.”
The NASA webb world dream telescope and the European Southern Observatory in Chile have teamed up to reveal these early nuggets of the planet formation to reveal the young star known as Hops-315. It is a yellow dwarf in production like the sun, but at 100,000 to 200,000 years much younger and around 1,370 light years away. A single light year is 6 trillion miles.
In a cosmic first, McClure and her team stared deep into the gas pane around the baby star and recognized fixed stain -covering symbols of early planet formation. A gap in the outer part of the disc enabled them to look inside, thanks to the way the star tends to earth.
They discovered both silica oxide gas and crystalline silicate minerals that are the first solid materials in our solar system more than 4.5 billion years ago. The action unfolds in a place where the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is comparable, which contains the remaining building blocks of the planets of our solar system.
The condensation of hot minerals has never been found before other young stars. “Our study shows that it could be a common process in the earliest phase of planet formation.”
While other studies with younger gas disks and more frequently mature windows with potential would -be planets were examined, there has been no specific evidence for the start of planet formation, said McClure.
In a breathtaking picture of the ESO alma telescope network, the aspiring planetary system resembles a flash bug that shines against the black emptiness.
It is impossible to know how many planets could form Hops-315. According to McClure, it could also land with eight planets in one million or more years with such a massive gas pane of the sun.
Merel van ‘t Hoff, co-author of Purdue University, strives to find more aspiring planetary systems. By casting a wider network, astronomers can search for similarities and determine which processes for the formation of earthly worlds can be of crucial importance.
“Are there beings -like planets out there or do we like something special that we may not expect it to occur very often?”
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AP video journalist Javier Arciga contributed to this report.
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