Brendan Bowler of the University of Texas Austin said: “We don’t know much aboutGiant planetHow is it formed? “This planetary system provides us with the first testimony of how matter accumulates on planets. Our results open a new field for this research.”
Although astronomers have cataloged more than 4,000 exoplanets so far, so far the telescope has only obtained direct images of about 15 exoplanets. The planets are so far away and so small that they are usually just one point in the clearest picture.
The research team used the latest Hubble technology to obtain direct images of the planet, opening a new avenue for future exoplanet research, especially during the planet’s formation period.
This huge exoplanet is called PDS 70b and orbits the orange dwarf PDS 70. The orange dwarf is known to have two planets forming in a huge stellar disk surrounded by dust and gas. The system is located in the constellation Centaurus, 370 light years from Earth.
“This system is so exciting because we can witness the formation of a planet,” said Zhou Yifan of the University of Texas at Austin. “This is the youngest real planet that Hubble has directly captured.” He said that at the age of five. Millions of years, the planet is still absorbing material and accumulating mass.
Hubble’s sensitivity to ultraviolet light has a unique ability to observe radiation produced by extremely hot gases falling on the planet.
“The Hubble observations allow us to estimate the speed at which the planets gain mass,” added Zhou Zhoufan.
By adding ultraviolet observations, the research team directly measured the planet’s massive growth rate for the first time. In about five million years, this planet has reached five times the mass of Jupiter. The current measured accretion rate has dramatically decreased: if this accretion rate remains the same for about a million years, the planet will only increase by about 1/100 the mass of Jupiter.
On Monday, Fan and Bowler emphasized that these observations are just data in a short period of time, and more data is needed to determine whether the planetary accretion mass rate is increasing or decreasing. “Our measurements indicate that the planet is at the end of its formation.”
The young PDS 70 system is filled with primitive dust disks, which can provide fuel for planetary growth throughout the system. The planet PDS 70b is surrounded by its own disk of gas and dust, which is absorbing material from the huge disk of stellar dust. The research team assumed that magnetic field lines extend from the outer planetary disk into the exoplanet’s atmosphere and funnel matter toward the planet’s surface.
“If this material enters the planet from the dust disk, the hot spots will be seen locally,” explained Zhou Yifan, “These hot spots can be at least 10 times hotter than Earth.”
These areas will glow violently under UV light.
These observations also provide clues to the huge gaseous planets that formed around our sun 4.6 billion years ago. Jupiter may have been produced by the accumulation of disks of matter falling around it. Your main satellite will also be formed from the debris from the dish.
The results of this new study will be published in the Astronomical Journal on April 29, 2021.
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