We now know that planets are created from the extended gas and dust rings – called protoplanetary discs - surrounding young stars They can extend over hundreds of thousands of kilometres.
These three protoplanetary discs were discovered with the help of the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. These observations are destined to better understand the evolution of newly born planetary systems.
In the course of time, the particles trapped within the protoplanetary discs collide with each other, agglomerate and can produce bodies of planetary size.
However, the details of how these discs evolve with the production of planets are still largely unknown. The interaction of these protoplanetary discs and the planets being formed shapes the discs, with the formation of extended rings, spiral arms or more or less extended empty spaces. Even today, the relation of these structures to the planets responsible for them is poorly understood. Which is why astronomers are interested in this exceptional structures.
Through its capacity to observe directly the strange structures of protoplanetary dsics, SPHERE has become an indispensable instrument for research.
The new high resolution observations obtained with its help have highlighted the existence of really surprising structures within the protoplanetary discs which surround young stars. It has enabled the complex dynamics within these young solar systems to be observed – and one of them in real time.
SPHERE has enabled these research teams to observe a stellar protoplanetary disc in far more detail than ever before.
The huge central cavity and the two large structures which look like sprial arms are likely to have been created by one or more massive protoplants which could well become jovian type planets.
Through this impressive collection of information about protoplanetary discs, these scientists are contributing to a better understanding of these discs,to a better understanding they are shaped by the planets formed within them - and so to to a better understanding of planetary formation itself.
References
The research of de Boer, Ginski, Stolker and their colleagues of the SPHERE consortium has been accepted for publication by the journal/Astronomy and Astrophysics/.
- Direct detection of scattered light gaps in the transitional disk around HD 97048 with VLT/SPHERE, Ginski, C. et al., A&A, 2016
- Shadows cast on the transition disk of HD 135344B Stolker, T. et al., A&A, 2016
- Multiple rings in the transition disk and companion candidates around RXJ1615.3-3255. High contrast imaging with VLT/SPHERE, de Boer, J. et al., A&A, 2016
Each of these three papers was written within the framework of the SPHERE GTO programme, led by Carsten Dominik of Amsterdam University.