The Webb spatial telescope He gave us another incredible show, a very special dawn. In fact, a new solar system: for the first time, a research group led by Leiden University (Netherlands) managed to immortalize a “cosmic birth“.
The study was conducted using the telescope ATACAMA LARGE MILLIMETER/SUBMILLIMETER ARBY(Alma), of which theEuropean Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner, and the space telescope James Webbobserving the generation of the first grains of planetary material, or hot minerals that begin to solidify. This discovery marks the first time that a planetary system is identified in one so early phase of his training and opens one window on the past of our solar system.
What has always been thought
For the first time, we identified the oldest moment in which the planetary formation begins around a star different from our sun
explains Melissa McClurefirst author of the work
To make everything even more fascinating, the similarity of this “newborn” with our Solar System: The analysis of these filming could therefore indirectly provide us with information on the birth of our small part of Cosmo.
This just found planetary system is emerging in particular around Hops-315a protostella that is located at about 1300 light years from us And it is a nascent sun analogue. Around these neonated stars, astronomers often observe discs of gases and dust known as protoplanetary recordswhere the new planets are born.
But although astronomers have already observed young records containing babies, massive and similar to Jupiter, scientists have always believed that the first solid parts of the planets were formed in previous phases.
In our solar system, the first solid material to condense near the current position of the Earth around the sun is trapped in ancient meteorites, and astronomers date these primordial rocks to determine when the clock started to work in the formation of our sun system.
These cosmic structures are rich in crystalline minerals that contain silicon monoxide (Sio) and can condense to the extremely high temperatures present in young planetary discs.
Over time – it was thought – these newly condensed solids bind together, laying the foundations for the formation of the planets as they increase in size and mass. As we always thought it had also happened in the Solar System.
The new discovery
With their new discovery, astronomers have found evidence that these hot minerals are starting to CONDVENCE IN THE DISC around HOPS-315: In fact, their results show that Sio is present around the newly formed star in the gaseous state, as well as within these crystalline minerals, suggesting that it is just starting to solidify.
This process had never been observed before in a protoplanetary disc, or at any place outside our solar system
reports Edwin Berginco -author of the research
These minerals were identified for the first time using the space telescope James Webbwhile to find out exactly where the signals came from, the team observed the system with Alma, managed by ESO together with international partners in the Atacama desert in Chile: with these data, the team determined that the chemical signals came from one small region of the disc around the starequivalent to the orbit of the asteroid range around the sun.
We are observing these minerals in the same position in this extrasolar system in which we see them in the asteroids of the Solar System
tells Logan Franciswho collaborated on the study
For this reason, the Hops-315 album provides aExcellent analogy to study our cosmic history.
I was really affected by this study – says Elizabeth Humphreys, an Astronoma of Eso who did not participate in the study – which reveals a very early phase of the planetary formation. (Work) suggests that Hops-315 can be used to understand how our solar system has formed. This result highlights JWST and Alma’s combined force in exploring the protoplanetary records
The research was published on Nature.
Sources: Leiden University / Nature / Eso / YouTube
