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Even by astronomical standards, it is a discovery that is out of this world. Scientists have for the first time witnessed the birth of a planet, a gigantic gaseous giant several times the size of Jupiter, emerging 370 light-years from Earth
The theory of planet formation gas from a vortex of hydrogen and helium The molecules captured by their own gravity are now widely accepted by scientists. But that has never been seen before, until now. Today, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) in Heidelberg and the Sphere Instruments consortium of the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile, have published a spectacular image of birth
ANDRE MÜLLER / ESO
The newborn is in a solar system of 5 , 4 million years ago, orbiting a star called PDS 70. [19659009LaplanetreconnuesousPDS70thenhavebeenpresentedinordinateorbitant'anenormous'protoplanetarydiscounting'gaslogginganddustingwhichitcontinuestoaccumulatematerialandthatisnotcompletelyformed
Old Solar System 5.4 million years old, orbiting a star called PDS 70. The planet stands out clearly on the image, visible as a bright spot to the right of the center blackened.
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The dark region in the center of the world. image is due to a coronagraph, a mask that blocks the blinding light of the central star and allows astronomers to detect the faint light of the planet
"For our study, we selected the PDS 70, a star that was already suspected of having a young "These discs around the young stars are the birthplaces of the planets, but until now, only a handful of observations have detected clues of baby planets .
"The problem is that up to now, most of these candidate planets might just have been features in the disc."
This glimpse of the birth of the planet has been possible thanks to the Sphere instrument of ESO, which studies exoplanets and disks around nearby stars using a KN technique possessing as high-contrast imaging . Using the instrument, astronomers were able to measure the brightness of the planet at different wavelengths, and discover its composition. It is located about 1.8 billion miles from the central star, which is roughly equivalent to the distance between Uranus and the Sun. The planet takes about 120 years to orbit its host star.
The spectral analysis shows that the PDS 70b is a giant gas planet, with a mass of a few times that of Jupiter and a surface temperature of about 1830F (1000C). Much hotter than any planet in our own solar system. Thomas Henning, director of the Max Planck Institute and leader of the teams, summed up the scientific adventure: "After more than a decade of tremendous effort to build this high-tech machine, now Sphere allows us to harvest the crop with the discovery of baby planets. "
To date, astronomers have discovered about 3,800 exoplanets outside the solar system, but have never seen any birth.
"The results open up a new window on the early complex stages and poorly understood global evolution," said Dr. André Müller chief of the second team to investigate the young planet. we needed to observe a planet in the disc of a young star to really understand the processes behind the formation of the planet. "
– The Telegraph, London
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