2023-07-14 20:35:23
Images of the Milky Way galaxy show a swirling pattern of spiral “arms” full of stars extending outward from the center containing a black hole. But galaxies are not the only spiral structures in the universe. Similar patterns have been observed in disks of gas and dust clouds surrounding some young stars, namely Planetary systems in the making, according to the journal Nature Astronomy. These so-called protoplanetary disks, which are the birthplace of young planets, are of great interest to scientists because they provide glimpses of what the solar system might look like in its infancy and how planets might form in general. Scientists have long believed that the spiral arms in these disks could be caused by infant planets, however, none have been discovered so far. In a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, scientists from the University of Arizona revealed how a giant planet could generate spiral arms. “Our study provides strong evidence that these spiral arms are caused by giant planets,” Kevin Wagner, lead author of the study, an astronomer at the University of Arizona, said in a statement. Scientists discovered a giant exoplanet, called MWC 758c, that generates the arms. Spirals in the nascent planetary system. The paper proposes possibilities as to why scientists have struggled to find this planet in the past, as well as how their methods might apply to discovering other hidden planets in similar circumstances. The exoplanet, MWC 758c, is located in a star system about 500 million light-years from Earth. He says. Scientists: The host star is only a few million years old, which is a “baby” compared to our Sun, which is 4.6 billion years old. Thus, the system still contains a protoplanetary disk, as it takes about ten million years for the disk debris ( A mixture of dust and rocky bodies that have not yet condensed into celestial bodies) from the system, or being devoured by the star, or forming planets, moons, asteroids, and comets.
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