Since its launch in space, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has not stopped sharing images and discoveries without precedents.
JWST is now new, opening a new chapter in understanding planetary formation. As? Capturing gas dispersion for the first time in a disk of advanced planetary formation.
The discovery was published in the Astronomical Journal and led by a team of researchers from the University of Arizona and the SETI Institute.
A new discovery by James Webb
Led by Naman Baja of the University of Arizona and Dr. Uma Gorti of the SETI Institute, this study focused on analyzing the winds of the disk surrounding the TCha star, actively dispersing its gas content over a radius of about 30 astronomical units. .
This is the first time that images of gas dispersing in a planet-forming disk have been detected, thanks to the detection of name gases such as neon and argon.
Além disso, this was first detection of [Ne II], indicating that these winds will originate in an extensive region of the disk.
According to Naman Bajaj, these winds can be driven by high energy stellar photons ou by magnetic fields associated with the disk.
And, therefore, this gas dispersion process would play a fundamental role in determining the composition and structure of two planetary systems, including our own Solar System, which shows a predominance of rocky objects over rich gas ones.
In this context, this study addresses a fundamental question about the process of planetary formation: the moment it forms the largest part of the gas left in the disk that surrounds the young star.
During planetary formation, as poeira e gas particles They agglomerate to form planetesimais, which eventually give rise to planets. The amount of material available and the time it remains on the disk are determining factors in the type, size and location of the new planets.
A second study, led by Dr. Andrew Sellek of the Leiden Observatory, complements these observations with simulations that suggest that a gas dispersion driven by high-energy stellar photons can explain the observed data.
This theory, supported by Simultaneous detection of four gas lines by JWSTsuggests that significant quantities of gas would be dispersed annually, equivalent to the Lua mass.
Basically, a new perspective on the process of planetary formation, which opens the way for a better understanding of how and when systems are created in the universe.