ALMA Captures New Higher-Resolution Images Of The Planetary Genesis Process

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
The first images captured with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array’s (ALMA) new high-resolution capabilities have given researchers their best look ever at the process of planet formation around an infant star, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) have announced.
In order to obtain the revolutionary new observations, researchers focused ALMA at a young, Sun-like star located approximately 450 light-years away known as HL Tauri (HL Tau for short). A planet-forming disk surrounds HL Tau, the researchers noted, and the new images have shown the material left over from star birth in unprecedented detail.
For instance, ALMA has detected previously unseen features in the system, including multiple concentric rings separated by clearly defined gaps. That discovery suggests that, despite the relatively young age of the star, the planetary formation process is already well underway.
“These features are almost certainly the result of young planet-like bodies that are being formed in the disk,” ALMA Deputy Director Stuartt Corder explained in a statement Thursday. “This is surprising since HL Tau is no more than a million years old and such young stars are not expected to have large planetary bodies capable of producing the structures we see in this image.”
“When we first saw this image we were astounded at the spectacular level of detail. HL Tauri is no more than a million years old, yet already its disc appears to be full of forming planets. This one image alone will revolutionize theories of planet formation,” added Catherine Vlahakis, ALMA Deputy Program Scientist and Lead Program Scientist for the ALMA Long Baseline Campaign.
According to the researchers, all stars are believed to form within gas and dust clouds that collapse under gravity, and over time, those particles begin to stick together and grow into increasingly larger rocks and pebbles. Eventually, those objects settle into a thin protoplanetary disk in which asteroids, comets, and planets form.
After those planetary bodies acquire enough mass, they cause dramatic changes to the structure of their natal disk, causing rings and gaps to form as the planets sweep debris, dust and gas out of their orbits and into more restricted zones. Thanks to the new images captured by ALMA, these features can now be observed in unprecedented detail, providing astronomers with the clearest-ever pictures of the planetary genesis process.
“The logistics and infrastructure required to place antennas at such distant locations required an unprecedented coordinated effort by an expert international team of engineers and scientists,” ALMA Director Pierre Cox said. “These long baselines fulfill one of ALMA’s major objectives and mark an impressive technological, scientific and engineering milestone.”
“This is truly one of the most remarkable images ever seen at these wavelengths,” added NRAO astronomer Crystal Brogan. “The level of detail is so exquisite that it’s even more impressive than many optical images. The fact that we can see planets being born will help us understand not only how planets form around other stars but also the origin of our own Solar System.”
The new high-resolution capabilities which allowed the new images to be captured were achieved by spacing ALMA’s antennas up to 15 km (almost 10 miles) apart, the researchers said. Using this baseline at millimeter wavelengths enabled a resolution of 35 milliarcseconds, which is roughly equal to being able to see a penny from more than 110 km (68 miles) away, and astronomers ultimately plan to expand the baseline to 16 km for even clearer images.
Image 2 (below): This is a composite image of the young star HL Tauri and its surroundings using data from ALMA (enlarged in box at upper right) and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (rest of the picture). This is the first ALMA image where the image sharpness exceeds that normally attained with Hubble. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), ESA/Hubble and NASA. Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt
VIDEOS:
> ESOcast 69: Revolutionary ALMA Image Reveals Planetary Genesis
> Watch the Video: Zooming In On The Location Of HL Tauri
> Artist’s Impression Of The Disc Around A Young Star
> Artist’s 3D Impression Of The Disc Around The Young Star HL Tauri
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