Giant iron rings might hold clues about young solar systems

[Judi Lynn]

https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai/q_lossy+w_1177+h_662+to_auto+ret_img/cosmosmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/mpia-pm_hd144432_vanboekel_2024_teaser2.jpg

An artist’s concept of the three-ringed structure in the planet-forming disk around HD 144432.. Credit: Jenry.

January 8, 2024

Jacinta Bowler

By the time humans got onto the scene, the Solar System had been pretty well formed for around 4.5 billion years. Although this is very good for life on the planet, it does mean that to find out the intricacies of how it formed, astronomers have to look elsewhere.

A new study has done just this for a young star called HD 144432 just 500 light years away from Earth, discovering three iron rings or discs, and potentially two planets hiding in between.

A paper looking at the findings has been published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

“When studying the dust distribution in the disc’s innermost region, we detected for the first time a complex structure in which dust piles up in three concentric rings in such an environment,” says Dr Roy van Boekel, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany.

“That region corresponds to the zone where the rocky planets formed in the Solar System.”

More:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/rings-dust-planet-formation-solar-system/

[EYESORE 9001]

1. That's fairly close

Cosmologically speaking, of course.

[marble falls]

2. Another good thing to read with coffee.