A team of international astronomers has used the James Webb Space Telescope to study a protoplanetary disk, providing new insights into planet formation. The disk, HH30, is located 450 million light years away in the Taurus Molecular Cloud and is considered a standard model of an edge-on disk.
The telescope’s observations combined with data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) revealed the distribution of dust grains in the disk. The findings suggest that large dust grains concentrate towards the center of the disk, while smaller grains are more widespread.
The team discovered a narrow, dense layer of dust where dust grains can clump together to create pebbles and eventually entire planets. This region is crucial during planet formation, as it allows for the formation of dense layers that can coalesce into planets.
The observations also showed distinct structures within the disk, including a high-velocity jet of gas, a wider cone-shaped outflow, and a surrounding nebula. These features demonstrate the dynamic nature of HH30, where massive jets and tiny dust grains play a key role in building new planets.
Understanding how dust evolves in edge-on disks like HH30 can provide valuable insights into planet formation and help scientists study how dust grains drift and settle. The study’s findings will contribute to our understanding of the complex processes involved in creating entire planets from these disk systems.
Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/newborn-stars-surround-planet-forming-190602297.html