Recent Image Unveils the Mysteries Surrounding the Formation of Planets

Today, the European Southern Observatory has shared a stunning new image providing valuable insights into the potential formation process of Jupiter-sized planets.

By employing the advanced capabilities of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), scientists have identified sizable dusty clusters near a young star.

These clusters hold the possibility of collapsing and giving rise to massive planets.

Clumps Around Young Star Hold Potential for Giant Planets

In fact, Alice Zurlo, a researcher from the Universidad Diego Portales in Chile, expressed great enthusiasm about the captivating discovery. This marks the first-ever detection of clumps surrounding a young star that could potentially give rise to massive planets. The research detailing this remarkable finding has been published in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The discovery was made using the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) instrument on ESO’s VLT, which provided a mesmerizing image of the material around the star V960 Mon.

This young star, situated over 5000 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros, drew astronomers’ attention when its brightness increased more than twentyfold in 2014. The SPHERE observations following this brightness “outburst” unveiled intricate spiral arms extending beyond the size of our entire solar system, showcasing the material orbiting V960 Mon coming together.

ALMA Collaboration Unveils Deeper Insights into the Star’s Material Structure

However, inspired by this finding, astronomers analyzed archived observations of the same system captured with ALMA, an instrument in which ESO is a partner. While the VLT observations examined the surface of the dusty material around the star, ALMA provided a deeper view of its structure.

However, the ALMA observations revealed that the spiral arms were undergoing fragmentation, leading to the formation of clumps with masses comparable to planets, which supports the concept of gravitational instability as a mechanism for giant planet formation.

Philipp Weber, a researcher from the University of Santiago, Chile, who led the study, emphasized that this observation is the first real evidence of gravitational instability occurring at planetary scales.

The research team, which has been investigating planetary formation for over a decade, expressed their excitement about this incredible discovery.

A Key Player in Unveiling Planetary Formation Secrets

Moving forward, ESO’s instruments, particularly the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) under construction in Chile’s Atacama Desert, will play a crucial role in unveiling more details about this intriguing planetary system.

Concluding, the ELT’s advanced capabilities will allow astronomers to observe the system in greater detail and gain crucial insights into the chemical composition of the material involved in potential planet formation. This promises to further expand our understanding of the fascinating processes shaping planetary birth.

Read the original article on: Phys.

Read more: Early Planetary Migration Can Explain Missing Planets.