An international team of astronomers from the University of La Laguna (ULL) and the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) has for the first time captured the details of planetary systems in an era long shrouded in mystery.
Research, no ALMA survey to resolve exoKuiper belt substructures (ARKS), based on a series of ten articles published simultaneously in the journal Astronomy and astrophysics and it was done with a telescope Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (SOUL). Thanks to this work, the clearest images to date have been obtained. 24 garbage disksdust belts that remain after planets form.
These disks are the cosmic equivalent of the “adolescence” of planetary systems: they are slightly more developed than the disks of planet formation, but have not yet reached maturity. These findings from the ARKS project are very valuable for finding young planets and understanding how they form and reorganize into families like the planets of the Solar System.
In this sense, Carlos del BurgoULL and IAC researcher and ARKS project contributor, emphasizes ALMA’s potential for detecting structures in disks: “ALMA continues to revolutionize our view of young planetary systems by revealing complex structures potentially created by planets. These increasingly sharp observations can be combined with radial velocity curves and light curves (for systems with planets that intercept light from their stars for a given observer) to greatly improve the characterization of these emerging worlds.
We’ve often seen childhood photos of planets in the process of formation, but until now adolescence has been the missing link
Meredith Hughes, Wesleyan University
For his part, Meredith Hughesassociate professor of astronomy at Wesleyan University (USA) and one of the leaders of this study, notes: “We have often seen children’s photos of planets in the process of formation, but until now adolescence has been the missing link.” And he adds: “This project gives us a new perspective to interpret the craters of the Moon, the dynamics of the Kuiper belt and the growth of large and small planets. It’s like adding missing pages to a family album of the solar system.”
The counterpart of this evolutionary phase in our solar system is Kuiper belta ring of icy debris beyond Neptune that preserves records of massive planetary collisions and migrations that took place billions of years ago. This new study of 24 exoplanetary debris belts gives us a better understanding of what the Solar System was going through as the Moon formed and the planets made their way to their final resting places.
Teenage albums
Debris disks are dimmer, hundreds or even thousands of times dimmer than bright sparkling rims where planets form. The ARKS team took on the challenge of creating images of these discs in unprecedented detail.
Like teenagers who avoid being photographed, these faint disks have hidden from astronomers for years, but thanks to ALMA, their complex structure can now be admired: belts with several ringswide smooth halos, sharp edges and even unexpected arcs and structures.
“We observed a great diversity: not only simple rings, but also belts with multiple rings, halos and strong asymmetry, revealing a dynamic and complex chapter in the history of the planet,” he adds. Sebastian MarinaHead of the ARKS Program and Associate Professor at the University of Exeter (UK).
We see a great variety: not only simple rings, but also belts with several rings, halos and strong asymmetry.
Sebastian Marina, University of Exeter
ARKS is the largest and most comprehensive study of the debris disk. the highest resolution made to datewhereby it has been shown that approximately one-third of the observed disks show distinct substructures (several characteristic rings or fissures) that may have formed at earlier stages of planet formation or have been formed by planets over a much longer period of time. While some discs inherit complex structures, others flatten out and spread out into broad belts, similar to how we expect the Solar System to have evolved.
Moreover, many discs show evidence of quiescent and chaotic regions with vertically “bulging” regions that look like a mix of classic Kuiper Belt objects from our Solar System and objects scattered by Neptune’s past migration. Some disks hold gas much longer than expected. In some systems, residual gas can affect the chemical composition of growing planetsor even move the dust into broad haloes. ARKS has shared this wealth of data with the entire community.
The ARKS results show that this adolescent stage is a time of transition and upheaval. “These discs recorded a period when the planets’ orbits were disrupted and strong impacts like the one that forged the Moon formed young solar systems,” he says. Luka Matraone of the leaders of the study and an associate professor at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
The ARKS project is the work of an international team of approximately 60 scientists led by the University of Exeter, Trinity College Dublin and Wesleyan University, with participation from ULL and IAC.
rights: Creative Commons.
