NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has provided conclusive evidence to a long-standing question about the formation of planets around ancient stars. In 2003, the Hubble Space Telescope discovered a massive planet orbiting an extremely old star, which was thought to be impossible due to its lack of heavy elements. Now, with the help of Webb’s advanced technology, researchers have found that some stars in a nearby galaxy can still host planet-forming disks at ages of 20-30 million years.
This discovery refutes previous theoretical predictions and challenges our understanding of planetary formation and early evolution in the young universe. According to study leader Guido De Marchi, the findings imply that planets have more time to form and grow around these stars than in nearby regions with more heavy elements.
Researchers suggest two possible mechanisms for planet-forming disks to persist in environments scarce in heavier elements: radiation pressure and the presence of a larger gas cloud. The second possibility, where a star starts from a bigger gas cloud, produces a bigger disk that takes longer to dissipate, allowing planets to form. This new understanding has significant implications for how we approach planetary formation and system architecture.
The James Webb Space Telescope is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the origins of our universe. The telescope’s advanced technology has provided the first-ever spectra of forming Sun-like stars and their environments, offering new insights into the early universe.
Source: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-finds-planet-forming-disks-lived-longer-in-early-universe