A spectacular new image released by the European Southern Observatory gives us clues about how planets as massive as Jupiter could form. Using ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array (ALMA), researchers have detected large dusty clumps, close to a young star, that could collapse to create giant planets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis discovery is truly captivating as it marks the very first detection of clumps around a young star that have the potential to give rise to giant planets,\u201d says Alice Zurlo, a researcher at the Universidad Diego Portales, Chile, involved in the observations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The work is based on a mesmerising picture obtained with the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) instrument on ESO\u2019s VLT that features fascinating detail of the material around the star V960 Mon. This young star is located over 5000 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros and attracted astronomers\u2019 attention when it suddenly increased its brightness more than twenty times in 2014. SPHERE observations taken shortly after the onset of this brightness \u2018outburst\u2019 revealed that the material orbiting V960 Mon is assembling together in a series of intricate spiral arms extending over distances bigger than the entire Solar System.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This finding then motivated astronomers to analyse archive observations of the same system made with ALMA, in which ESO is a partner. The VLT observations probe the surface of the dusty material around the star, while ALMA can peer deeper into its structure. \u201cWith ALMA, it became apparent that the spiral arms are undergoing fragmentation, resulting in the formation of clumps with masses akin to those of planets,\u201d says Zurlo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Astronomers believe that giant planets form either by \u2018core accretion\u2019, when dust grains come together, or by \u2018gravitational instability\u2019, when large fragments of the material around a star contract and collapse. While researchers have previously found evidence for the first of these scenarios, support for the latter has been scant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo one had ever seen a real observation of gravitational instability happening at planetary scales \u2014 until now,\u201d says Philipp Weber, a researcher at the University of Santiago, Chile, who led the study published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur group has been searching for signs of how planets form for over ten years, and we couldn’t be more thrilled about this incredible discovery,\u201d says team-member Sebasti\u00e1n P\u00e9rez from the University of Santiago, Chile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ESO instruments will help astronomers unveil more details of this captivating planetary system in the making, and ESO\u2019s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will play a key role. Currently under construction in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert, the ELT will be able to observe the system in greater detail than ever before, collecting crucial information about it. \u201cThe ELT will enable the exploration of the chemical complexity surrounding these clumps, helping us find out more about the composition of the material from which potential planets are forming,\u201d concludes Weber.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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