#protoplanet

An Extrasolar Planet? - May 29th, 1998.

"Two parallel studies have captured the first pictures of a protoplanet as it forms within a disk-shaped structure containing multiple rings of dust and gas (Astrophys. J., doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/adf7a5 and 10.3847/2041-8213/adf721). With images and data obtained at both visible and infrared wavelengths, the confirmed sighting offers a model system for astronomers to study the mechanisms that enable planets to form and grow."

(image left: An optical image of the WISPIT-2 system reveals a protoplanet (purple dot) within a gap in a multi-ringed disk of gas and dust [Image: Laird Close, University of Arizona] image right: An image taken of WISPIT-2 in infrared wavelengths reveals the detailed structure of the protoplanetary disk [Image: ESO/R F van Capelleveen et al.])

"Many of the planet-forming disks that surround young stars have been observed to display multiple rings with gaps between them, suggesting that the material is being subsumed into a growing planet. However, only three of these protoplanets have been discovered to date, and none of these have been seen within a gap in the ring structure.

In this case, the astronomers turned their attention to WISPIT-2, a young star with a mass similar to our sun. Suspecting that the disk orbiting this star might harbor one or more emerging planets, they observed the system at visible wavelengths using the Magellan Telescopes and in the near-infrared using the Very Large Telescope, both of which are located in Chile’s Atacama Desert."

"“As planets form and grow, they suck in hydrogen gas from their surroundings,” explains Laird Close of the University of Arizona, USA, who led the team that built the MagAO-X system. “When the gas hits the surface of the protoplanet it creates extremely hot plasma that in turn emits a particular light signature.”"

TheiaaaAAAA!!!! A theorized planet that couldn've had the same orbit as Earth! Sadly they supposedly crashed into the Earth but this helped create our moon in the process. Alla theory but canon in Sooarballs the show ^^

I want to help you!

I don’t want your help!

Image ID: A green slime girl (named Guz) tenderly holding a yellow slime girl (Slamtha). Slamtha is curled up sitting in fetal position on the ground and looks shocked or scared, and Guz looks concerned and is kneeling down and wrapping her arms around her. Slamtha has three eyes (only two are visible to the viewer) and an offset mouth, and she is wearing a red dress, and Guz is wearing a starfleet engineering uniform as seen during the mid-2380s flashbacks in Star Trek Picard season 1, that is, a black jumpsuit with yellow stripes and angular yellow shoulder pattern with a delta-shield badge on the left breast. They are on the ground on a young volcanic planet with a volcanic moon in the sky that has just been hit with a major impact, with a cone of debris spewing out. the sky is alight with bright meteors, including one which has hit the ground near the horizon line. End image ID.

This drawing was actually a request from my friend Ray. The background was going to be pretty much an afterthought, until I asked him what it should be, and he told me it should be some kind of dangerous planet. The planet is a young world, only a few million years old. The haze across the sky is the zodiacal light, which shines bright enough to see during the day and is made up of a dense cloud of asteroids and protoplanets still in the process of accreting. The moon in the sky is somewhat like what the Earth’s moon looked like 3-4 billion years ago, although the timeline of lunar volcanism and major impact basin formation are not the same and the volcanism was probably a lot subtler with less permanent standing bodies of molten lava. Artistic license!

And then Ray, the madlad, wrote a whole piece of short fiction about the drawing, which you can read under the cut!