Astronomers Capture Birth Of A Planet 1st Time Ever And It's Simply Amazing
These observations were made with the European Southern Observatory¡¯s Very Large Telescope.
Space is full of numerous mysterious and beautiful occurrences. From exploding supernovas to magnificent meteor showers, it has got it all and then some.
And from the looks of it, researchers just saw what looks like the birth of a new planet -- something that has never been seen or captured before.
ESO
These observations were made with the help of the European Southern Observatory¡¯s Very Large Telescope (published in Astronomy & Astrophysics). The planet took birth around the young star AB Aurigae in the form of a dense disc of dust and gas along with a spiral ¡®twisted structure -- a clear indicator of a planet¡¯s formation.
Anthony Boccaletti who led the study from the Observatoire de Paris, PSL University, France, explained, ¡°Thousands of exoplanets have been identified so far, but little is known about how they form. We need to observe very young systems to really capture the moment when planets form.¡±
Astronomers already know that planets are born in dusty discs surrounding young stars, (like in this case, around AB Aurigae) as cold gas and dust fuse together. The new discovery with ESO¡¯s VLT will help provide crucial information to help scientists better understand this phenomenon.
A planet is born
According to Emmanuel Di Folco of the Astrophysics Laboratory of Bordeaux (LAB), France, who also participated in the study, The new images showcase this breathtaking phenomenon around AB Aurigae, located 520 light-years away from Earth. Spirals of this kind usually signify the presence of baby planets, which ¡®kick¡¯ the gas, creating disturbances in the disc in the form of a wave, somewhat like the wake of a boat on a lake.
That spiral twisting formation is noteworthy. According to co-author Anne Dutrey, ¡°The twist is expected from some theoretical models of planet formation. It corresponds to the connection of two spirals ¡ª one winding inwards of the planet¡¯s orbit, the other expanding outwards ¡ª which join at the planet location. They allow gas and dust from the disc to accrete onto the forming planet and make it grow.¡±
ESO
European Southern Observatory is in process of constructing a 39-metre Extremely Large telescope which will better the state of the art ALMA and SPHERE telescopes to look to extrasolar worlds.
Boccaletti feels this powerful telescope will allow astronomers to get more detailed images of the formation of the planets, stating, ¡°We should be able to see directly and more precisely how the dynamics of the gas contributes to the formation of planets.¡±
Take the journey into the stars and witness the birth of the planet below:
