German astronomers monitor birth of planets in small stars

German astronomers have conducted detailed studies of young stars 5 to 10 times less massive than the sun, and of processes that occur with surrounding gas and dust disks that give birth to planets within them. journal Astronomy Astrophisics. This was after a team of astronomers led by astronomer Nicholas Kurtowicz of the German Astronomical Institute in Planck observed 6 gas disks surrounding newly discovered newborn and small stars in the constellation Taurus. Astronomers have said that all of these stars have been forming for over 3 million years. As a result, discs of gas and dust are always spinning around them, which could give birth to planets within them. With the ALMA microwave telescope, astronomers observed the movement of dust currents inside the disks and recorded the sequence of changes in dust density.

Observations showed that 3 discs with necklaces and voids appear on the eve of the birth of a new planet. Scientists believe its mass can be compared to the mass of Saturn or gas giants previously discovered in other star systems. To date, scientists cannot shed light on the process of the birth of planets in the stars of small size. However, astronomical observations confirm that this process takes place very rapidly, that is, over hundreds of years, as the dust inside the gas disks quickly disappears under the influence of the rays of the newborn star. Kurtovic and his colleagues hope that the following astronomical observations using ALMA will help to understand how the birth planets have red dwarfs, as these are the most widespread stars in the Milky Way, which in turn will help assess the likelihood of the birth of life on these planets.

You might also be interested:

Find out how much sunscreen to take to avoid health risks

Astronomers discover a planetary system with unique properties