Planets are formed due to the accumulation of dust grains moving near the young stars. As per the latest computer simulation, planets might begin forming earlier than estimated earlier, even before a planet’s star has finished forming.
For a planet to form, a lot of gluing is required, ranging from small grains of dust that can’t be seen through naked eyes to objects that lay thousands of kilometers away. Previous theories of planetary formation suggest that this gluing process starts after a protostar settles down; however, the study challenges that notion.
Satoshi Ohashi and his collaborators at the RIKEN Star and Planet Formation Laboratory made computer simulations to understand the evolution of proplanetary disks around stars undergoing formation processes.
Challenging old notions
Their study found out that the gaps in the disks appeared earlier than expected. Those gaps are due to many dust grains gluing together, clearing out channels in the disk due to their accumulated mass.
“We found that ring structures emerged even in the early stages of disk formation,” says Ohashi. “This suggests that the dust grains may become bigger earlier than we had previously thought.”
The findings have surprised the team as young protostars are still in a state of significant flux, with their output varying. ALMA observatory’s observations have revealed gaps in young protoplanetary systems. The new simulations have shown how those gaps appear so quickly.
“Recent ALMA observations have found at least four ring structures in protostellar disks, which are consistent with our simulations,” notes Ohashi.
More observations necessary
Future observations recorded at different wavelengths might reveal more structures within the disks, and might help verify the new simulations further, enabling researchers to understand complex processes.
Recently, an international team of scientists, led by Alice Booth of the Leiden University in the Netherlands found methanol-ijs inside the warm part of a planet-forming disk. The methanol cannot be produced there and could be coming from the cold gas clouds that form stars and disks. If this is a common phenomenon then it could be a breakthrough discovery. The findings will be published in Nature Astronomy.
