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Scientists have captured the first confirmed direct image of a nascent exoplanet emerging from the disk of gas and debris surrounding a young dwarf star in the constellation Centaurus some 370 light-years from Earth. The "newborn" planet is a gas giant between two and three times more massive than Jupiter and is some 3 billion km (1.86 billion miles) from the T Tauri star (a bit further than Uranus is from our sun).
While other images in the past have shown planet-like features in proto-planetary disks around stars, scientists have been unable to confirm if the features represented actual planets. PDS-70b changes that thanks to the images taken by the SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet Research) instrument attached to the VLT located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile and operated by the European Southern Observatory.
The discovery confirms several theories about planetary formation including that they carve a gap in the proto-planetary disk while they accumulate material and that gas giants are extremely hot as they form -- much hotter than any planet in our solar system (estimated to have a surface temperature of 1000 degrees Celsius/1800 degrees Fahrenheit).
Further Reading:
Discovery of a planetary-mass companion within the gap of the transition disk around PDS 70 Draft Paper (pdf) [1]
Orbital and atmospheric characterization of the planet within the gap of the PDS 70 transition disk Letter (pdf)
It's a Beautiful Baby Exoplanet! Historic Photo Is 1st View of Alien World Being Born
First confirmed image of newborn planet caught with ESO's VLT
In a first, astronomers witness the birth of a planet from gas and dust
Giant telescope captures first image of a newborn planet
1. If that has trouble loading try https://arxiv.org/pdf/1806.11568.pdf
While other images in the past have shown planet-like features in proto-planetary disks around stars, scientists have been unable to confirm if the features represented actual planets. PDS-70b changes that thanks to the images taken by the SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet Research) instrument attached to the VLT located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile and operated by the European Southern Observatory.
The discovery confirms several theories about planetary formation including that they carve a gap in the proto-planetary disk while they accumulate material and that gas giants are extremely hot as they form -- much hotter than any planet in our solar system (estimated to have a surface temperature of 1000 degrees Celsius/1800 degrees Fahrenheit).
00000000000000ars1d.jpg
PDS-70b is the bright spot to the right of the center of the image, the
star is obscured by a black disk known as a coronagraph used to
block its blinding light from washing out much dimmer planets
I'd mute the sound
PDS-70b is the bright spot to the right of the center of the image, the
star is obscured by a black disk known as a coronagraph used to
block its blinding light from washing out much dimmer planets
I'd mute the sound
Further Reading:
Discovery of a planetary-mass companion within the gap of the transition disk around PDS 70 Draft Paper (pdf) [1]
Orbital and atmospheric characterization of the planet within the gap of the PDS 70 transition disk Letter (pdf)
It's a Beautiful Baby Exoplanet! Historic Photo Is 1st View of Alien World Being Born
First confirmed image of newborn planet caught with ESO's VLT
In a first, astronomers witness the birth of a planet from gas and dust
Giant telescope captures first image of a newborn planet
1. If that has trouble loading try https://arxiv.org/pdf/1806.11568.pdf
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