“This is a real shift in our research,” he says. Christian Jenskilecturer at the University of Galway in Ireland and lead author of the book One of the new studies published in the journal Astronomy and astrophysics. “Instead of looking at individual galaxies, we now have a massive overview of entire star-forming regions.”
This star-forming region is a disk filled with dust and gas surrounding young stars, and can develop into a breeding ground for planets. To better understand how planets are born, the team studied a total of 86 stars in three different star-forming regions in the Milky Way: Taurus and Chameleon I, both about 600 light-years from Earth, and Orion, a gas-rich planet. A cloud very close to Earth, about 1,600 light-years away.
To make the observations, the team used the latest technologies available, including… Very large telescope (VLT) and Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the Atacama Desert in Chile.
Planet formation discs
New images show that planet-forming disks, precursors of planets that sometimes form around young stars, can take on countless shapes. “Sometimes these disks have huge spiral arms,” says Genski. “Then we again saw rings with large holes in them, worn away by planetary formation.”
“Other discs still look soft and seem almost asleep in the midst of all the activity,” he adds. Antonio Garofi till then. He works as an astronomer at the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) and lead author of the book One of the other studies.
The observations led to a number of important insights. For example, in Orion, it was observed that stars were less likely to have a large planet-forming disk when they were in groups of two or more. This is an important discovery, because most stars in the Milky Way have companions, unlike our Sun.
Poetic images
The stunning images provide a treasure trove of information that researchers can use in the near future. “There is something poetic that the processes that lead to the formation of planets, and thus the origin of life, seem so beautiful,” he says. Per Gunnar Vallegarda doctoral candidate at the University of Amsterdam who Research related to Orion Drove. In addition to his work as a researcher, Vallegard teaches at the International School in Hilversum. He hopes the photos will inspire his students to become scientists, too.
Researchers have discovered that planet-forming disks can take different shapes.
Myrthe Prince has worked as a journalist for more than ten years – she has written travel stories for Traveler magazine, been a correspondent for PZC and interviewed numerous researchers for her science column in National Geographic magazine. In addition to her work as an online editor, she writes poetry and prose, learns new languages, and helps her team escape escape rooms.
