Tag

Planet Formation

All articles tagged with #planet formation

science4 days ago•120 min saved

Webb Telescope Reveals Two Types of Cosmic Debris from Planetary Collisions

Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to analyze 21 'extreme debris disks' around young stars, revealing that these systems are the aftermath of violent planetary collisions. The study, published in The Astrophysical Journal, categorizes these disks into silica-rich and silica-poor types, linking them to impacts between Mars-sized and Moon-sized bodies, respectively. These findings offer new insights into the formation of the Moon and the evolution of rocky planets in our own solar system.

via Space|

#astronomical-journal #extreme-debris-disks #james-webb-space-telescope

astronomy10 days ago•119 min saved

ALMA Captures First Direct Evidence of Gas Swirls Around Forming Twin Planets

Astronomers have produced the clearest image yet of two forming planets interacting with their birth disk. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), researchers observed the WISPIT 2 system, located 430 light-years away. The data reveals how the twin planets, WISPIT 2b and 2c, carve gaps and cavities in the surrounding gas and dust. This marks the first time gas velocity distortions, or 'spiral wakes,' have been directly linked to a confirmed planet, providing a crucial calibration point for future exoplanet detection.

via Space|

#alma #astronomy #exoplanets

science17 days ago•119 min saved

Sub-Neptune GJ 3090 b found on a retrograde, highly tilted orbit around a red dwarf

Astronomers measured the orbital tilt of GJ 3090 b and found the 2.2‑Earth‑radius, 4.5‑Earth‑mass sub‑Neptune orbits its red dwarf host in the opposite direction to the star’s spin, with a spin–orbit angle (Psi) of about 136°. The result, reported Sept. 21 in Astronomy & Astrophysics, was obtained using the NIRPS spectrograph at La Silla Observatory and is surprising because no massive companion is detected to explain the misalignment.

via Space|

#exoplanets #gj-3090-b #nirps

science22 days ago•4 min saved

Youngest Exoplanet Found Forces Rethink of Planet Birth

Astronomers confirm Elias 2-24 b, a Jupiter-sized planet forming in the disk around a young star about 450 light-years away, marking the youngest exoplanet discovered at under a million years old. It sits roughly 11 times farther from its star than Jupiter is from the Sun and is still growing in a dusty natal disk, challenging existing planet-formation timelines that predict much slower growth at such distances. Its mass could be 2–14 times Jupiter’s, though precise mass remains uncertain due to surrounding gas and dust. The discovery came from combining ALMA and Keck observations, and future observations with NASA’s Roman Space Telescope are expected to reveal many more infant planets.

via Gizmodo|

#astronomy #elias-2-24-b #exoplanets

space23 days ago•121 min saved

Cosmic newborn Elias 2-24 b: the youngest exoplanet ever spotted

Astronomers have identified Elias 2-24 b as the youngest exoplanet on record, likely under a million years old and about as massive as Jupiter, located in a disk of gas and dust around the young star Elias 2-24 roughly 450 light-years away. The discovery was made by reanalyzing archival data from Keck Observatory using a coronagraph, with supporting evidence from previous ALMA and VLT observations. The finding, reported in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, challenges current planet-formation models and sets the stage for more direct observations with future instruments like NASA’s Roman Space Telescope coronagraph.

via Space|

#astronomy #elias-2-24-b #exoplanets

science1 month ago•161 min saved

JWST traces a ticking clock for planet formation across 72 young stars

Using JWST's Mid-Infrared Instrument, astronomers followed 72 young sun-like stars to map how planet-forming material escapes their disks. The findings show gas-dust disks disperse through two shifting regimes: early, magnetically driven jets and winds dominate mass loss, and as disks thin, high-energy stellar radiation drives photoevaporation. This evolving mechanism sets a fundamental clock for when gas giants can form and helps explain where different types of planets are likely to emerge.

via Space|

#astronomy #disk-dispersal #james-webb-space-telescope

science1 month ago•6 min saved

Gaia pins down a free-floating Saturn-mass world wandering the Milky Way

A Saturn-mass object (~0.22 Jupiter masses) measured via gravitational microlensing with Gaia parallax appears unbound to a star (or on a very wide orbit), about 3.05 kiloparsecs away. This supports population estimates that free-floating or very wide-orbit planets could outnumber stars by roughly 20 to 1, though uncertainties and model differences remain. The result is based on a single event, and future surveys like NASA's Roman Space Telescope will build a larger, clearer census, while ongoing work debates the mass-function shape at lower masses.

via Space Daily|

#free-floating-planets #gaia #microlensing

space1 month ago•3 min saved

Dense Mega-Earth GJ 523b Defies Conventional Planet Formation

Astronomers confirm GJ 523b, a rock-dominated mega-Earth about 23 Earth masses and 2.5 Earth radii in a 170-million-year-old system, orbiting its star every 17.75 days. Its extreme density and thin atmosphere challenge standard models that would normally push such a core to become a gas giant, prompting theories like atmospheric stripping from stellar heat or a head-on collision of rocky protoplanets. This discovery provides a rare glimpse into how ultra-dense worlds form and evolve.

via geekspin|

#exoplanet #gj-523b #mega-earth

space1 month ago•159 min saved

GJ 523b: A colossal rocky world defying formation expectations

Astronomers have identified GJ 523b, an unusually dense exoplanet about 2.5 times Earth’s radius and roughly 23–24 times Earth’s mass, making it a so‑called mega‑Earth with a predominantly rocky composition and little atmosphere. Its high density challenges standard planet‑formation models that predict gas envelopes once cores reach ~20 Earth masses; explanations include atmospheric loss or a giant‑impact origin. The planet orbits its star every 17.75 days in a relatively young system (~170 million years old), with the discovery arising from NASA’s TESS data and ground‑based WIYN follow‑up observations.

via Space|

#density #exoplanet #gj-523b

space2 months ago•9 min saved

Uranus Clouds Reveal a Rotten-Egg Clue About Its Formation

Astronomers using Gemini North spectroscopy detected trace hydrogen sulfide above Uranus’s cloud tops (about 0.4–0.8 parts per million), confirming a sulfur-bearing layer and showing Uranus is chemically distinct from the inner gas giants. The planet’s blue color comes from methane, not sulfur, and while the “rotten egg” smell is a real footnote, any visitor would be overwhelmed by the extreme cold and unbreathable atmosphere long before odor could be noticed. The finding helps constrain how Uranus formed and where its clouds originate.

via Space Daily|

#atmosphere #hydrogen-sulfide #methane

space2 months ago•13 min saved

Directly imaged planet orbits two suns closer than any prior circumbinary world

A young giant planet about 5.6 times Jupiter’s mass, HD 143811 AB b, was directly imaged in a binary star system roughly 446 light-years away. It orbits the two stars at about 63 AU with a 320-year period, six times closer to the stellar pair than any previously imaged circumbinary planet. The discovery, made through reanalysis of archival Gemini/GPI and Keck/NIRC2 data, challenges current ideas about planet formation and migration in dynamically complex circumbinary disks and provides a valuable three-body laboratory for refining models of how such worlds form and evolve.

via Space Daily|

#astronomy #binary-stars #direct-imaging

space3 months ago•11 min saved

Diamond-Rain World Around a Pulsar Challenges Planet-Formation Theory

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers identified PSR J2322-2650b, a Jupiter-mass world orbiting a pulsar. Its atmosphere is unusually rich in helium and carbon, with nitrogen and oxygen largely absent, and its clouds may condense soot into diamond, implying a “diamond rain.” The planet’s nearly pure carbon composition and puzzling formation history defy current models, challenging the line between planet and stellar remnant and prompting new theories about how such worlds form.

via Space Daily|

#carbon-atmosphere #diamond-rain #exoplanet

science3 months ago•12 min saved

Lemon-shaped exoplanet around a pulsar reveals carbon-rich atmosphere, baffling formation theories

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observed PSR J2322-2650b, a Jupiter-mass planet in a lemon-like orbit around a millisecond pulsar, with an atmosphere dominated by molecular carbon (C2 and C3) rather than water or methane. The extreme carbon-to-oxygen and carbon-to-nitrogen ratios, plus the planet’s shape and winds, challenge current formation theories. The finding is based on spectra from a single planet using one instrument, so while striking, it highlights a new puzzle rather than a confirmed explanation for how such worlds form.

via Space Daily|

#carbon-atmosphere #exoplanet #planet-formation

space3 months ago•96 min saved

Planets Could Form in Turbulent Edges of Active Galactic Nuclei

New simulations suggest the outer edges of gas-rich accretion disks around active supermassive black holes could resemble planet-forming disks, allowing dust to clump via streaming instability and form millions of Jupiter-mass planets tens of parsecs (a few tens of light-years) from the black hole; these planets would likely migrate outward, and gravitational lensing could help detect them, though observations are still in early stages.

via Space|

#accretion-disks #active-galactic-nuclei #exoplanets

space4 months ago•36 min saved

Astronomers Spot a Ring That Could Be a Cosmic Planet Factory

Astronomers have detected a prominent ring in the disk around a young star, seen as a likely site where planets form. The ring’s structure and gaps suggest ongoing planet-building activity within a protoplanetary disk, offering new clues about how planetary systems originate, though follow-up observations are needed to confirm active planet formation inside the ring.

via Yahoo|

#astronomy #exoplanets #planet-formation