:strip_icc()/i.s3.glbimg.com/v1/AUTH_59edd422c0c84a879bd37670ae4f538a/internal_photos/bs/2023/b/t/muZkqZSeW3FCFl1Uy1dA/stsci-01gwwhep4rves5p1vr29z2dbsz.png?fit=%2C&ssl=1 "“New Discoveries from the James Webb Telescope: Two Asteroid Belts and Possible Planetary System Around Fomalhaut”")
New high-resolution images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) show previously unknown details of what is one of the brightest stars in our night sky.
Scientists managed to use the supertelescope images to find two new asteroid belts around the star Fomalhaut and point to evidence of what could be a complex and possibly active planetary system, according to an article published in the scientific journal “Nature Astronomy”.
Located 25 light years from Earth, Fomalhaut is not the brightest in our night sky (a feat that falls to Sirius, also known as the Dog Star). However, Fomalhaut is easily identifiable with the naked eye and is often used as a reference point by amateur astronomers. It is in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus.
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The existence of a debris belt around Fomalhaut was first pointed out in 1983, but now, observations from the James Webb Super Telescope have revealed two additional rings closer to the star – a bright inner ring and a narrow middle ring.
And what is the importance of this new finding?
In an interview with g1astronomer András Gáspár of the University of Arizona and lead author of the new paper describing these results, explains that these debris disks can help unlock a long-standing goal of astronomy, which is to understand the formation and evolution of planetary systems, especially those similar to our.
This happens because when we study these debris belts we have a privileged view of the beginnings of planet formation.
In the case of Fomalhaut, we already know that its disks have components similar to those we have here in our Solar System: their dust belts are formed by debris from the collisions of larger bodies, analogous to asteroids and comets as we have here in our surroundings. .
“James Webb’s observations revealed a much more complex and exciting system than our wildest dreams could have imagined”, says Gáspar.
Despite this, no planets have actually been discovered around the star. The researchers only suspect that these belts were probably carved by gravitational forces that were exerted by planets that we still can’t see.
Our Solar System, for example, has two such belts – the main asteroid belt between Mars and the gas giant Jupiter, and the Kuiper belt, beyond the ice giant Neptune.
And around here, it is precisely Neptune’s gravitational influence that shapes the inner edge of the Kuiper belt, which in turn is home to the dwarf planets Pluto and Eris.
Therefore, in the Fomalhaut case, astronomers suspect that we also have an icy giant that is molded in the surroundings of the star.
“There are many open questions about how the dust in these disks coalesces to form planetary embryos, how planetary atmospheres form, etc.”, added Schuyler Wolff, co-author of the study.
“Planets form within the primordial disks that surround young stars. Understanding this formation process requires a thorough understanding of how these disks form and evolve,” said Wolff.
The study with the scientists’ findings was published in the scientific journal Nature Astronomy, from the Nature group.
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Understand in the video below why James Webb is indeed a supertelescope.
Compare Photos from the James Webb Super Telescope to Its Predecessor
2023-05-11 08:03:09
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