New Discovery of Planet-Forming Rings Around Young Star 'HD 144432'

Delivery time2024-01-09 05:00

Hungarian-British research team “estimated that two Jupiter-class planets are forming… similar to the early solar system”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Joo-young = Iron and silicate elements, which are materials for rocky planets such as Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, are found in the planet-forming disk made of space dust and gas around a young star 500 light-years away from Earth. Three abundant rings were discovered.

Three planet-forming rings around the young planet ‘HD 144432’ 500 light years away.

As a result of observations with the European Southern Observatory (ESO)’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI), the research team found that three planet-forming rings around the young planet ‘HD 144432’, located 500 light-years away, contained various silicate compounds found in large quantities in rocky planets in the solar system. It was announced that iron had been discovered. [@Jenry 제공. 재판매 및 DB 금지]

A joint research team from the Konkoli Observatory in Budapest, Hungary, and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) in Germany reported on the 9th in the scientific journal ‘Astronomy and Astrophysics’ that iron and gas were found in the cosmic dust and gas disk around the young star ‘HD 144432’ 500 light-years away. They said they had discovered three planet-forming rings rich in silicates.

The research team said that two of the three planet-forming rings are in orbits similar to the distance from the central star from the Sun to Mars, and one is in an orbit as far away from the Sun as Jupiter, and that two Jupiter-mass planets appear to be forming. He explained that the environment is estimated to be similar to that of the solar system 4 billion years ago, when planets were formed.

The process of solar system planet formation is a long-standing research topic in the astronomy community, and astronomers are trying to determine how the dust and gas surrounding the young sun evolved into planets 4.5 billion years ago by observing stars similar to the early solar system among distant celestial bodies.

In this study, the research team observed the young star HD144432, located about 500 light years away, using the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile, South America. One light year is approximately 9.46 trillion km, which is approximately 6300 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun (150 million km).

Analysis of observation data revealed that space dust and gas formed a wide disk around the star, and that the dust and gas in the disk were clustered in the form of three concentric rings.

Aerial view of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT)

Aerial view of the European Southern Observatory (ESO)’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in the Atacama Desert, Chile. The VLT Interferometer (VLTI) combines light from four telescopes to take high-resolution images of distant celestial objects. [G.Hüdepohl(atacamaphoto.com)/ESO 제공. 재판매 및 DB 금지]

“By analyzing the dust distribution in the innermost region of the disk, we discovered a structure in which dust is piled up in three concentric rings,” said Dr. Roy van Vokel of MPIA, a co-researcher. “The region with these dust rings is the region in the solar system where female planets are located.” “It corresponds to,” he said.

Compared to the solar system, the first dust ring around HD144432 is within the orbit of Mercury, the second ring is closer to the orbit of Mars, and the third ring is closer to the orbit of Jupiter.

In addition, measurements of the disk dust composition from HD 144432 to the distance of Jupiter showed that it contained various silicates and other minerals present in the Earth’s crust and mantle, as well as elements believed to be iron present in the cores of the Earth and Mercury.

The research team is paying attention to the fact that an environment in which rocky planets can form was discovered in such a close location to the central star, and that the space dust here contains components of the solar system’s planets.

The research team said that most of the exoplanet-forming disks discovered so far were located at a greater distance from the central star than Saturn. If this discovery is confirmed, HD 144432 will be the closest complex planet-forming ring system to the central star and the first time iron has been discovered.

The research team estimates that two planets with a mass similar to Jupiter are forming in these planet formation rings.

“The iron-rich, carbon-poor dusty disk around HD 144432 matches solar system conditions well,” said Dr. van Vokel. “It is thought that the disk around HD 144432 is very similar to the early solar system, which provided a lot of iron to the female planets.” He said.

◆ 출처 : Astronomy and Astrophysics, , ‘Mid-infrared evidence for iron-rich dust in the multi-ringed inner disk of HD 144432’,

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