Images of the Milky Way show a swirling pattern of spiral “arms” filled with stars extending outward from the black hole’s center.
But galaxies are not the only spiral structures in the universe. Similar patterns have been observed in discs of clouds of gas and dust surrounding some young stars, which are planetary systems in the process of formation, according to Nature Astronomy.
These so-called protoplanetary disks, which are the birthplace of young planets, are of great interest to scientists because they provide glimpses of what the early solar system might look like and how planets might form in general.
Scientists have long thought that the spiral arms in these disks could be caused by infant planets, but none have yet been discovered.
In a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, scientists from the University of Arizona reveal how a giant planet could generate spiral arms in the dusty disk surrounding its star.
“Our study provides strong evidence that these spiral arms are caused by giant planets,” Kevin Wagner, lead author of the study, an astronomer at the University of Arizona, said in a statement.
Scientists have discovered a giant exoplanet, called MWC 758c, that generates the spiral arms in the nascent planetary system. The paper suggests possibilities as to why scientists have struggled to find this planet in the past, as well as how their methods might apply to discovering other hidden planets under similar circumstances.
The exoplanet, MWC 758c, is located in a star system about 500 million light-years from Earth.
Scientists say: The age of the host star is only a few million years, which is a “baby” compared to our sun, which is 4.6 billion years old.
Thus, the system still contains a protoplanetary disk, since it takes about ten million years for disk debris (a mixture of dust and rocky bodies that have not yet condensed into celestial bodies) to be ejected from the system, gobbled up by the star, or form planets, moons, and asteroids and comets.
