Friday, March 29

ALMA telescope detects gas in a circumplanetary disk | Digital Trends Spanish


An important discovery was made by ALMA telescope (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array ) located in the Atacama desert in Chile, has made the first detection of gas in a circumplanetary disk.

Furthermore, the detection also suggests the presence of a very young exoplanet. The Results of the investigation are published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Circumplanetary disks are an accumulation of gas, dust, and debris around young planets. These disks give rise to moons and other small, rocky objects, and control the growth of young and giant planets. Studying these disks in their early stages may help shed light on the formation of our own Solar System, including that of Jupiter’s Galilean moons, which scientists believe formed in a circumplanetary disk of Jupiter about 4.5 billion years ago. years.

The exoplanet is more than 200 astronomical units, or 18.59 billion miles, away from the host star, defying currently accepted theories of planet formation. And if the host star’s estimated age of just 1.6 million years is true, this exoplanet could be one of the youngest ever detected. More study is needed, and scientists hope that upcoming observations with the James Webb Space Telescope will confirm the planet’s presence.

“The best way to study planet formation is to observe planets while they are forming. We are living in a very exciting time when this is happening thanks to powerful telescopes, like ALMA and JWST,” said Jaehan Bae, professor of astronomy at the University of Florida and lead author of the paper.

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