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You can see two concentric rings where planets can form. Credit: ALMA (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO), Kudo et al.
The researchers spotted the planet formation sites around a young star resembling the sun. Two rings of dust around the star, at distances comparable to the asteroid belt and to the orbit of Neptune in the solar system, suggest that we are witnessing the formation of one. planetary system similar to ours.
It is thought that the solar system was formed from a cloud of gas and cosmic dust 4.6 billion years ago. By studying the young planetary systems forming around other stars, astronomers hope to learn more about our own origins.
Tomoyuki Kudo, astronomer at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), and his team observed the young star DM Tau using the Atacama Large Millimeter / Submillimeter Array (ALMA) system. Located 470 light years from the constellation Taurus, the Tau DM represents about half the mass of the sun and would be between three and five million years old.
"Previous observations have deduced two different models for the disk around DM Tau," said Kudo. "Some studies suggest that the radius of the ring indicates the location of the asteroid belt of the solar system.Other observations indicate the size of Neptune.Our ALMA observations have provided a response clear: both are right, DM Tau has two rings, one in each place. "
The researchers found a bright spot in the outer ring. This indicates a local concentration of dust, which could be a training site for a planet like Uranus or Neptune.
"We are also interested in seeing the details in the inner region of the disc, because Earth has formed in such an area around the young sun," commented Jun Hashimoto, a researcher at the Japan Astrobiology Center. . "The distribution of dust in the inner ring around DM Tau will provide crucial information to understand the origin of planets such as Earth."
Artist's view of the disc around a young star, DM Tau. Credit: NAOJ
These results have been published in Kudo et al. "An inner scale disc at the spatial resolution around DM Tau" in the Astrophysical Journal in November 2018 and presented at the annual meeting of the Japan Astronomical Society in March 2019.
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More information:
Tomoyuki Kudo et al, A scaled internal disk at spatial resolution around DM Tau, The astrophysical journal (2018). DOI: 10.3847 / 2041-8213 / aaeb1c
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