More Pictures of Planet-Forming Disks Around Young Stars
MAY 7, 2020 BY EVAN GOUGH
Astronomy is advancing to the point where we can see planets forming around young stars. This was an unthinkable development only a few years ago. In fact, it was only two years ago that astronomers captured the first image of a newly-forming planet.
Now there are more and more studies into how planets form, including a new one with fifteen images of planet-forming disks around young stars.
This new study is titled “A family portrait of disk inner rims around Herbig Ae/Be stars.” The lead author is Jacques Kluska from KU Leuven in Belgium. The new study is published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. Herbig Ae/Be stars are young, pre-main sequence stars.
Our “nebular hypothesis” explains how stars and planets form. In a nutshell, it starts with a molecular cloud, an accumulation of mostly hydrogen. Eventually some of the material in the cloud begins to clump togethere. Like a snowball, the clump grows over time, and revolves. As it becomes more massive, its gravity draws more material in.
More:
https://www.universetoday.com/145974/more-pictures-of-planet-forming-disks-around-young-stars/