Our solar system is over 4.5 billion years old, meaning any pictures of its early days are long gone.
However, astronomers at the University of Arizona have now captured stunning images of what young planetary systems look like, thanks to a new high-tech instrument.
The Magellan Adaptive Optics Xtreme (MagAO-X) has provided some of the clearest images ever taken of planets forming around a young star called PDS 70, located 370 light-years away in the constellation Centaurus.
The findings, published in The Astronomical Journal, reveal incredible details about two planets in this system, including dust rings that could form moons and unexpected changes in their brightness.
A high-tech telescope with a unique trick
MagAO-X is an adaptive optics system, meaning it corrects for the distortion caused by Earth’s atmosphere.
This distortion makes stars appear to twinkle, which can blur images taken by ground-based telescopes.
MagAO-X uses a special deformable mirror that changes shape thousands of times per second—similar to how noise-canceling headphones block out sound. This allows it to produce images sharper than those from the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes.
“With MagAO-X, we can see features around these planets in incredible detail,” said Laird Close, an astronomy professor at the University of Arizona. “To give you an idea of how sharp these images are—if you were standing in Phoenix, Arizona, you could see whether someone in Tucson was holding one or two coins.”
What did MagAO-X discover?
Astronomers observed two young planets, PDS 70 b and PDS 70 c, which are still forming around their host star. These planets are only 5 million years old, making them “infant” planets compared to our 4.5-billion-year-old solar system.
Key discoveries include:
- Rings of dust surrounding the planets: This is the first time scientists have seen these rings so clearly. The dust is expected to collapse over time and form moons around the planets.
- Dramatic brightness changes: One planet, PDS 70 b, became five times dimmer over three years, while PDS 70 c doubled in brightness. Scientists believe this may be due to changes in the amount of hydrogen gas falling onto the planets.
“One planet seems to have gone on a diet, while the other is feasting on hydrogen gas,” Close explained.
Why does this matter?
Studying young planets like these can help scientists understand how our own solar system formed billions of years ago.
The PDS 70 system, with its large disk of gas and dust, could resemble what our solar system looked like in its early days.
Astronomers believe that massive planets help clear gaps in the dust disk by sweeping away material like a vacuum cleaner. Observing this process in action provides valuable clues about how planets form and evolve.
The MagAO-X team plans to continue searching for more baby planets around other young stars. While these observations are at the limit of current technology, Close is confident that future telescopes will reveal even more details.
“We can always build larger telescopes on the ground than in space,” said Jared Males, lead scientist for MagAO-X. “This study shows how powerful ground-based observations can be, and we hope to push the boundaries even further.”
Funding for this research was provided by NASA’s Exoplanet Research Program, along with support from the National Science Foundation and the Heising-Simons Foundation.
With continued advancements in technology, astronomers hope to unlock more secrets about the formation of planets and moons in the universe.
Source: University of Arizona.
