Outside our own solar system, the first moments of planet formation have never been detected, until now.
Astronomers used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in orbit to observe the earliest moments when specks of dust began tumbling into what will become planets.
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The European Southern Observatory (ESO) said the images are of a “baby star” known as HOPS-315 located about 1,300 light-years from Earth. The images and findings were published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.
HOPS-315, a baby star where astronomers have observed evidence for the earliest stages of planet formation. The image was taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).
(ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. McClure et al. / FOX Weather)
Study co-author and Purdue University Professor Merel van ‘t Hoff compared the images to “a picture of the baby Solar System … seeing a system that looks like what our Solar System looked like when it was just beginning to form.”
According to ESO, the image above shows HOPS-315. The orange is carbon monoxide blowing away from the baby star. In blue, there is a jet of silicon monoxide, which will eventually become the solid material to form planets.
Previously, astronomers have observed giant planets, like Jupiter, forming in the giant discs around young stars. According to the ESO, this discovery shows the first minerals condensing and growing in size and mass. Eventually, this process will form planets.
These images illustrate how hot gas condenses into solid minerals around the baby star HOPS-315. The image to the left was taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).
(ESO/L. Calçada/ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. McClure et al. / FOX Weather)
The illustrations on the right of the above image show this process happening around baby star HOPS-315 as molecules of silicon monoxide condense into solid silicates.
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The minerals were first identified by the James Webb Space Telescope and then the signals were pinpointed by ALMA.
This image shows jets of silicon monoxide (SiO) blowing away from the baby star HOPS-315. The image was obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).
(ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. McClure et al. / FOX Weather)
The ALMA image above shows the jets of silicon monoxide blowing away from the star.
“For the first time, we have identified the earliest moment when planet formation is initiated around a star other than our Sun,” Study lead author and Leiden University Professor Melissa McClure said.
Astronomers say HOPS-315 can be used to understand how our own solar system formed.
