#protoplanetary disk

WISPIT 2b: Exoplanet Carves Gap in Birth Disk

This image shows the birth of a new solar system. In the center is a sun-like star behind a coronagraph (a telescopic attachment to block light). Surrounding the star is a protoplanetary disk. The yellow spot is a young planet.

"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.”"

3:17: reading papers.

Tip for those getting started with scientific papers: be a studios annotator. Write down every question that pops up and make a system for different symbols that address the level of clarity you have for a passage. Not only will this show that you read the material(aka satisfy your professors), but also give you a deeper understanding of the material.

See The Universe Through The Eyes Of ALMA, The World's Most Complex Telescope

“Instead of the number of wavelengths fitting across a single dish, your resolution is determined by the distance between dishes. ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, consists of 66 large radio telescopes networked together. Combined, they measure this long-wavelength light to reveal astronomical details as never before.”

You can do so much more, in terms of resolution, with an array of telescopes than you could ever hope to do with a single dish. ALMA is presently the world’s most advanced array of infrared/radio telescopes, and by viewing individual objects with every one of their 66 dishes simultaneously, it can reveal details we’d never see otherwise. From individual galaxies, rotating or forming stars, to the signatures given off from newborn or dying stars, these images (and many more) reveal details about the Universe we’ve never known before. Most breathtaking of all, ALMA can reveal the details of a newly-formed solar system’s protoplanetary disk, including the gaps where new planets are actively forming.