Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to paint a picture of burger-shaped, planet-forming material around a young star.
Delicious research conducted by the James Webb Space Telescope’s Ice Age team led to the creation of the first detailed 2-D inventory of ice in the so-called proto-planetary disk, the type of structure from which the approximately 4.5 billion planets in our solar system emerged. Years ago.
“Direct mapping of the ice in the planet-forming disk provides important input for modeling studies that help better understand the formation of our Earth, other planets in our solar system, and around other stars,” said Ardjan, lead author of the study and Leiden University scientist. Sturm said: expression. “With these observations, we can now begin to make more robust statements about the physics and chemistry of star and planet formation.”
Ice may not sound like an astronomical discovery (if you’ll pardon the pun), but scientists care about this finding because the presence of ice in protoplanetary disks is vital to the birth of planets and even comets. Ice allows solid dust grains in protoplanetary disks to clump together to form clumps of material that can accumulate mass and eventually become planets. Ice may also contain vital molecules such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, which can be stored in comets and transported to the surfaces of planets, ultimately becoming the building blocks of life.
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But despite its importance in the formation of our planet and life on it, a detailed description of ice in the proto-planetary disks of other stars has eluded astronomers—until now, that is.
This is because Earth’s water-laden atmosphere prevents us from seeing these disks; Other space-based instruments also could not resolve them in detail because they are too weak. But that’s not a problem for the high-resolution infrared image from the $10 billion JWST, the most powerful telescope ever put into orbit and capable of producing detailed observations.
JWST takes a bite of the cosmic burger
To conduct the research, the Ice Age team trained JWST on a young star called HH 48 NE, located about 600 light-years away from us. The training occurred as the star passed through the “buns” of this cosmic burger, an illusion created by our side view of the protoplanetary disk and its center along a dark dust lane passing through slices of lettuce and tomato.
As starlight from HH 48 NE passes through the burger-like protoplanetary disk, it interacts with molecules in the disk and is absorbed. Because elements and molecules absorb and emit light at characteristic frequencies, this means they leave their fingerprints on the starlight when it reaches JWST.
In the light from this young star, astronomers could see fingerprints of ammonia, cyanate, carbonyl sulfide, and heavy carbon dioxide, all in the form of ice. They were also able to calculate the ratio of heavy carbon dioxide to “normal” carbon dioxide; This allowed them to calculate this second molecule, which is common on Earth.
One consequence of this particular aspect of the research is the discovery that carbon monoxide ice in the protoplanetary disk may have mixed with less volatile carbon dioxide and water; This is something that will allow it to remain frozen at closer distances to the young star than before. estimated. This means that planets with high carbon content can form close to their stars.
The first results from the Ice Age JWST project were delivered in 2023, and with this ice inventory in hand, the team will now observe other proto-planetary disks to see if the same carbon-based ice mixtures are retained. This could lead scientists to change their minds about understanding planetary compositions.
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“In 2016, we established one of JWST’s first research programs, Ice Age. We wanted to investigate how the icy building blocks of life evolve on the journey from their origins in cold interstellar clouds to the comet-forming regions of young planetary systems.” Co-author of the study and Leiden University scientist Melissa McClure said. “Now the results are starting to come.
“It’s a really exciting time.”
The team’s research is detailed in a paper published December 6 in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.