Washington, Oct 20 (ANI): Astronomers have captured the first direct image of a planet in the process of forming around its star.
Adam Kraus, of the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy, who combined the power of the 10-meter Keck telescopes with a bit of optical sleight of hand, said the planet is being formed out of dust and gas circling a 2-milion-year-old star about 450 light years from Earth.
What astronomers are calling LkCa 15 b, looks like a hot "protoplanet" surrounded by a swath of cooler dust and gas, which is falling into the still-forming planet. Images have revealed that the forming planet sits inside a wide gap between the young parent star and an outer disk of dust.
"LkCa 15 b is the youngest planet ever found, about 5 times younger than the previous record holder," said Kraus.
"This young gas giant is being built out of the dust and gas. In the past, you couldn't measure this kind of phenomenon because it's happening so close to the star. But, for the first time, we've been able to directly measure the planet itself as well as the dusty matter around it."
The discovery of LkCa 15 b began as a survey of 150 young dusty stars in star forming regions. That led to the more concentrated study of a dozen stars.
"LkCa 15 was only our second target, and we immediately knew we were seeing something new," said Kraus. "We could see a faint point source near the star, so thinking it might be a Jupiter-like planet we went back a year later to get more data."
In further investigations at varying wavelengths, the astronomers were intrigued to discover that the phenomenon was more complex than a single companion object.
"We realized we had uncovered a super Jupiter-sized gas planet, but that we could also measure the dust and gas surrounding it. We'd found a planet at its very beginning," said Kraus.
The study will be published in The Astrophysical Journal. (ANI)
|
|
Comments:
