PR Video eso2512a
Witnessing the dawn of a new solar system | Chasing Starlight
PR Video eso2512b
Zoom into the baby star HOPS-315
PR Video eso2512c
Animation of the formation of minerals around the baby star HOPS-315
"For the first time, we have identified the earliest moment when planet formation is initiated around a star other than our Sun,” says Melissa McClure, a professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands and lead author of the new study, published today in Nature.
Co-author Merel van ‘t Hoff, a professor at Purdue University, USA, compares their findings to "a picture of the baby Solar System", saying that “we're seeing a system that looks like what our Solar System looked like when it was just beginning to form.”
This newborn planetary system is emerging around HOPS-315, a ‘proto’
or baby star that sits some 1300 light-years away from us and is an
analogue of the nascent Sun. Around such baby stars, astronomers often
see discs of gas and dust known as ‘protoplanetary discs’, which are the
birthplaces of new planets. While astronomers have previously seen
young discs that contain newborn, massive, Jupiter-like planets, McClure
says, “we've always known that the first solid parts of planets, or ‘planetesimals’, must form further back in time, at earlier stages.”
In our Solar System, the very first solid material to condense near
Earth’s present location around the Sun is found trapped within ancient
meteorites. Astronomers age-date these primordial rocks to determine
when the clock started on our Solar System’s formation. Such meteorites
are packed full of crystalline minerals that contain silicon monoxide
(SiO) and can condense at the extremely high temperatures present in
young planetary discs. Over time, these newly condensed solids bind
together, sowing the seeds for planet formation as they gain both size
and mass. The first kilometre-sized planetesimals in the Solar System,
which grew to become planets such as Earth or Jupiter’s core, formed
just after the condensation of these crystalline minerals.
With their new discovery, astronomers have found evidence of these
hot minerals beginning to condense in the disc around HOPS-315. Their
results show that SiO is present around the baby star in its gaseous
state, as well as within these crystalline minerals, suggesting it is
only just beginning to solidify. "This process has never been seen before in a protoplanetary disc — or anywhere outside our Solar System," says co-author Edwin Bergin, a professor at the University of Michigan, USA.
These minerals were first identified using the James Webb Space
Telescope, a joint project of the US, European and Canadian space
agencies. To find out where exactly the signals were coming from, the
team observed the system with ALMA, the Atacama Large
Millimeter/submillimeter Array, which is operated by ESO together with
international partners in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
With these data, the team determined that the chemical signals were
coming from a small region of the disc around the star equivalent to the
orbit of the asteroid belt around the Sun. “We're really seeing
these minerals at the same location in this extrasolar system as where
we see them in asteroids in the Solar System,“ says co-author Logan Francis, a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University.
Because of this, the disc of HOPS-315 provides a wonderful analogue for studying our own cosmic history. As van ‘t Hoff says, “this system is one of the best that we know to actually probe some of the processes that happened in our Solar System."
It also provides astronomers with a new opportunity to study early
planet formation, by standing in as a substitute for newborn solar
systems across the galaxy.
ESO astronomer and European ALMA Programme Manager Elizabeth Humphreys, who did not take part in the study, says: “I
was really impressed by this study, which reveals a very early stage of
planet formation. It suggests that HOPS-315 can be used to understand
how our own Solar System formed. This result highlights the combined
strength of JWST and ALMA for exploring protoplanetary discs.”
More information
The team is composed of M. K. McClure (Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, The Netherlands [Leiden]), M. van ’t Hoff (Department of Astronomy, The University of Michigan, Michigan, USA [Michigan] and Purdue University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Indiana, USA), L. Francis (Leiden), Edwin Bergin (Michigan), W.R. M. Rocha (Leiden), J. A. Sturm (Leiden), D. Harsono (Institute of Astronomy, Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan), E. F. van Dishoeck (Leiden), J. H. Black (Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory, Sweden), J. A. Noble (Physique des Interactions Ioniques et Moléculaires, CNRS, Aix Marseille Université, France), D. Qasim (Southwest Research Institute, Texas, USA), E. Dartois (Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, France.)
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of ESO, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) in Taiwan and by NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI). ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), on behalf of North America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia. The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) enables scientists worldwide to discover the secrets of the Universe for the benefit of all. We design, build and operate world-class observatories on the ground — which astronomers use to tackle exciting questions and spread the fascination of astronomy — and promote international collaboration for astronomy. Established as an intergovernmental organisation in 1962, today ESO is supported by 16 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), along with the host state of Chile and with Australia as a Strategic Partner. ESO’s headquarters and its visitor centre and planetarium, the ESO Supernova, are located close to Munich in Germany, while the Chilean Atacama Desert, a marvellous place with unique conditions to observe the sky, hosts our telescopes. ESO operates three observing sites: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its Very Large Telescope Interferometer, as well as survey telescopes such as VISTA. Also at Paranal ESO will host and operate the Cherenkov Telescope Array South, the world’s largest and most sensitive gamma-ray observatory. Together with international partners, ESO operates ALMA on Chajnantor, a facility that observes the skies in the millimetre and submillimetre range. At Cerro Armazones, near Paranal, we are building “the world’s biggest eye on the sky” — ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope. From our offices in Santiago, Chile we support our operations in the country and engage with Chilean partners and society.
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Contacts
Melissa McClure
Leiden Observatory, Leiden University
Leiden, The Netherlands
Cell: on request
Email: mcclure@strw.leidenuniv.nl
Merel van ‘t Hoff
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana, United States
Tel: +1-734-882-0270
Email: vanthoff@purdue.edu
Logan Francis
Leiden Observatory, Leiden University
Leiden, The Netherlands
Tel: +31 71 527 2727
Email: francis@strw.leidenuniv.nl
Edwin Bergin
Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
Tel: +1 734 764 3441
Email: ebergin@umich.edu
Elizabeth Humphreys
European Southern Observatory
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6541
Email: ehumphre@eso.org
Bárbara Ferreira
ESO Media Manager
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6670
Cell: +49 151 241 664 00
Email: press@eso.org
