Artist's impression of a massive planet being born around a star 430 light-years from Earth.
Karen L. Teramura, UH IfA
The baby planet circles a very young, sun-like star located in a giant cloud of molecular gas 430 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus.
PHOTOS: The Most Horrific Alien Planets In Our Galaxy
Astronomers had previously noted a hefty gap in the disk of gas and dust surrounding the star, known as LkCa 15. They suspected the gravitational pull of an evolving planet had cleared out an orbital zone, similar to how some moons circling Saturn create gaps in its rings.
Now, a new series of observations adds key details of the planet-in-the-making, showing for the first time how it is feeding on hydrogen gas.
“This discovery has far-reaching implications for our understanding of the planet-forming process and of the properties of young planets,” Princeton University astrophysicist Zhaohuan Zhu wrote in a commentary in this week’s Nature.
Read More Here
Related Links
Play Video
Earth
is in what's called the habitable zone. It's far enough from the sun
that it doesn't get fried, and close enough that it gets the best of its
warmth. We like to think we're special for this, but it turns out we
might be pretty run of the mill.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Hello and thank you for visiting my blog. Please share your thoughts and leave a comment :)