Planetary systems consist of large clouds of dust and gas that form disks around young stars. Over time, these disks coalesce to form planets of various sizes, compositions, and distances from their parent star.
In recent decades, observations in the mid- and far-infrared wavelengths have led to the discovery of debris disks around young stars (less than 100 million years old), allowing astronomers to study planetary systems in their early history , providing new insights into how systems form and evolve, according to a report by RT.
This includes the SpHere INfrared Survey for Exoplanets, or SHINE, an international team of astronomers dedicated to studying the formation of star systems.
Using the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, the SHINE collaboration recently observed the debris disk of a nearby star, called HD 114082, in the visible and infrared wavelengths, which is an F-type star (yellow white dwarf).
Combined with data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Satellite (TESS), they were able to image a Jupiter-sized gas giant embedded directly within the disk, dubbed HD 114082 b.
The scientists point out that the newly discovered planet, although its diameter is similar to Jupiter’s, its mass is eight times that of the gas giant, giving it twice the density of Earth, despite being mostly made up of gas.
The properties of this “superjuve” have not only puzzled astronomers, but may also challenge current theories of planet formation.
The outer planet, located about 310 light-years outside the solar system in the constellation Centaurus, revolves around a sun-like star that is only 15 million years old, making it a relative “baby” in cosmic terms. even compared to our 4.6 billion year old planet.
It’s common for astronomers to discover gas giant planets similar to or larger than Jupiter, but it’s unusual to discover a planet of this density and heaviness.
These statistics are bizarre: “Compared to current models, the exoplanet HD 114082 b is two to three times denser than the young gas giant,” Olga Zakouzy, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany and lead author of the study. new study, she said in a statement, is only 15 million years old.
HD 114082 b’s diameter and mass give it a density about twice that of Earth—surprising given that it’s a gas giant composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, the lightest elements in the universe.
The outer planet revolves around its star half the distance between Earth and the sun, and completes one orbit every 110 Earth days, an orbit similar to the orbit of Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.
And if the measurements of this planet’s mass are correct, that would make it twice as dense as Earth (Earth is already a dense planet, being rocky in type and having a metallic core). This could be because the planet is very young.
There are two possible ways a gas giant like HD 114082 b could form, and both occur in the protoplanetary disk, which is a disk of gas and dust that collapses to form planets.
The first formation mechanism includes the primary accretion model: a protoplanet begins life as a solid, rocky core in which more and more material accumulates. It generates a giant planet.
