Mar 5, 2025 02:41 AM
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Sharper image: U of A-built instrument reveals pictures of 'baby planets'
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1075772
INTRO: With a sun more than 4.5 billion years old, our solar system is considered "middle-aged," and the pictures of what it might have looked like in its infancy are lost to time. Taking advantage of a sophisticated adaptive optics instrument, a team of astronomers at the University of Arizona made observations that reveal unprecedented details of planets when they are very young.
The instrument, dubbed Magellan Adaptive Optics Xtreme, or MagAO-X, observed two young planets orbiting PDS 70, a very young 5 million-year-old star in the constellation Centaurus, 370 light-years from Earth.
Published in The Astronomical Journal, the observations show for the first time compact rings of dust surrounding the "baby planets," which will likely give rise to moons. The team also observed startling changes in planet brightness, telltale signs of the system's turbulent youth.
With a deformable mirror that changes its shape quickly, MagAO-X corrects for atmospheric distortion in a way that is reminiscent of how noise-cancelling headphones filter out noise.
"This is a really great breakthrough in technology," said Laird Close, a professor of astronomy at Steward Observatory, in the U of A College of Science, adding that the images surpass the resolution of space telescopes, including the 2.4-meter Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope. (MORE - details, no ads)
James Webb Telescope reveals planet-forming disks can last longer than previously thought
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1075765
INTRO: If there were such a thing as a photo album of the universe, it might include snapshots of pancake-like disks of gas and dust, swirling around newly formed stars across the Milky Way. Known as planet-forming disks, they are believed to be a short-lived feature around most, if not all, young stars, providing the raw materials for planets to form.
Most of these planetary nurseries are short-lived, typically lasting only about 10 million years – a fleeting existence by cosmic standards. Now, in a surprising find, researchers at the University of Arizona have discovered that disks can grace their host stars much longer than previously thought, provided the stars are small – one-tenth of the sun's mass or less.
In a paper published in the Astrophysical Letters Journal, a research team led by Feng Long of the U of A Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, in the College of Science, reports a detailed observation of a protoplanetary disk at the ripe old age of 30 million years. Presenting the first detailed chemical analysis of a long-lived disk using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the paper provides new insights into planet formation and the habitability of planets outside our solar system.
"In a sense, protoplanetary disks provide us with baby pictures of planetary systems, including a glimpse of what our solar system may have looked like in its infancy," said Long, the paper's lead author and a Sagan Fellow with the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.
As long as the star has a certain mass, high-energy radiation from the young star blows the gas and dust out of the disk, and it can no longer serve as raw material to build planets, Long explained.
The team observed a star with the official designation WISE J044634.16–262756.1B – more conveniently known as J0446B – located in the constellation Columba (Latin for "dove") about 267 light-years from Earth. The researchers found that its planet-forming disk has lasted about three times longer than expected.
"Although we know that most disks disperse within 10 million to 20 million years, we are finding that for specific types of stars, their disks can last much longer," Long said. "Because materials in the disk provide the raw materials for planets, the disk's lifespan determines how much time the system has to form planets." (MORE - missing details, no ads)
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1075772
INTRO: With a sun more than 4.5 billion years old, our solar system is considered "middle-aged," and the pictures of what it might have looked like in its infancy are lost to time. Taking advantage of a sophisticated adaptive optics instrument, a team of astronomers at the University of Arizona made observations that reveal unprecedented details of planets when they are very young.
The instrument, dubbed Magellan Adaptive Optics Xtreme, or MagAO-X, observed two young planets orbiting PDS 70, a very young 5 million-year-old star in the constellation Centaurus, 370 light-years from Earth.
Published in The Astronomical Journal, the observations show for the first time compact rings of dust surrounding the "baby planets," which will likely give rise to moons. The team also observed startling changes in planet brightness, telltale signs of the system's turbulent youth.
With a deformable mirror that changes its shape quickly, MagAO-X corrects for atmospheric distortion in a way that is reminiscent of how noise-cancelling headphones filter out noise.
"This is a really great breakthrough in technology," said Laird Close, a professor of astronomy at Steward Observatory, in the U of A College of Science, adding that the images surpass the resolution of space telescopes, including the 2.4-meter Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope. (MORE - details, no ads)
James Webb Telescope reveals planet-forming disks can last longer than previously thought
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1075765
INTRO: If there were such a thing as a photo album of the universe, it might include snapshots of pancake-like disks of gas and dust, swirling around newly formed stars across the Milky Way. Known as planet-forming disks, they are believed to be a short-lived feature around most, if not all, young stars, providing the raw materials for planets to form.
Most of these planetary nurseries are short-lived, typically lasting only about 10 million years – a fleeting existence by cosmic standards. Now, in a surprising find, researchers at the University of Arizona have discovered that disks can grace their host stars much longer than previously thought, provided the stars are small – one-tenth of the sun's mass or less.
In a paper published in the Astrophysical Letters Journal, a research team led by Feng Long of the U of A Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, in the College of Science, reports a detailed observation of a protoplanetary disk at the ripe old age of 30 million years. Presenting the first detailed chemical analysis of a long-lived disk using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the paper provides new insights into planet formation and the habitability of planets outside our solar system.
"In a sense, protoplanetary disks provide us with baby pictures of planetary systems, including a glimpse of what our solar system may have looked like in its infancy," said Long, the paper's lead author and a Sagan Fellow with the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.
As long as the star has a certain mass, high-energy radiation from the young star blows the gas and dust out of the disk, and it can no longer serve as raw material to build planets, Long explained.
The team observed a star with the official designation WISE J044634.16–262756.1B – more conveniently known as J0446B – located in the constellation Columba (Latin for "dove") about 267 light-years from Earth. The researchers found that its planet-forming disk has lasted about three times longer than expected.
"Although we know that most disks disperse within 10 million to 20 million years, we are finding that for specific types of stars, their disks can last much longer," Long said. "Because materials in the disk provide the raw materials for planets, the disk's lifespan determines how much time the system has to form planets." (MORE - missing details, no ads)