Have you ever wondered how huge planets like Jupiter are formed?
Thanks to a powerful telescope, scientists are getting closer to understanding this cosmic mystery.
They’ve found massive lumps of dust close to a young star that might form into giant planets. It’s like spotting the building blocks of planets before they come together.
Alice Zurlo, a researcher from Chile, is thrilled about the find.
“It’s the first time we’ve seen clumps around a young star that could make giant planets,” she says. The details of their discovery have been shared in a science journal.
To make this exciting discovery, researchers used a very large telescope from the European Southern Observatory, along with another instrument called ALMA.
These tools help them see deep into space and capture clear pictures of what’s happening out there.
The Young Star at the Center
The star they’re studying is called V960 Mon. It’s located more than 5000 light-years away from us, in a constellation called Monoceros. Scientists became interested in this star when it suddenly became much brighter in 2014.
With their powerful telescopes, the researchers saw that the material around V960 Mon was gathering in large spiral arms. These spirals were bigger than our entire solar system!
They then took a closer look at their past observations of the same system with ALMA. This allowed them to see deeper into the dusty material around the star.
What they found was astonishing—the spirals were breaking up into clumps. These clumps were as massive as planets.
Two Ways to Make a Planet
Scientists have two theories about how giant planets are formed. The first way is through “core accretion,” where dust particles stick together.
The second way is through “gravitational instability,” where big pieces of material around a star contract and collapse. Until now, they’ve only found evidence for the first method.
“But this time, we’ve seen a real example of gravitational instability happening at planetary scales,” says Philipp Weber, another researcher from Chile.
Looking to the Future
The team is thrilled about their find. “We’ve been searching for signs of how planets form for over ten years. We couldn’t be happier about this amazing discovery,” says team member Sebastián Pérez.
With more advanced instruments on the way, they’re hoping to learn even more about this fascinating planetary system in the making.
The Extremely Large Telescope, under construction in Chile’s Atacama Desert, will provide even more detailed observations.
“This will allow us to explore the chemical makeup of these clumps, helping us understand more about the material from which potential planets are forming,” concludes Weber.
So, as we look forward to more powerful telescopes, we can expect even more exciting discoveries in the future.
The study was published in Astrophysical Journal Letters.
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