What can a protoplanetary disk comprised of carbon dioxide teach scientists about a solar system’s formation and evolution? This is what a recent study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated the unique composition of a protoplanetary disk that will eventually evolve into its own solar system. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of solar systems and what this could mean for finding life beyond Earth.
For the study, the researchers analyzed data from a protoplanetary disk within the star cluster NGC 6357 region and obtained from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The study is part of the eXtreme UV Environments (XUE) program with this star at the center of the protoplanetary disk being designated as XUE 10. Protoplanetary disks serve as the birthplaces of stars and planets, thus making them natural laboratories for astronomers to study young solar systems with the goal of learning about our own solar system and where we can find life.
Image of NGC 6357 with the star XUE 10 (green dot). (Credit: Stockholm University (SU) and María Claudia Ramírez-Tannus, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA))
While longstanding notions about protoplanetary disks and solar systems postulated that the inner portion consisted of water vapor due to the higher temperatures, thus leading to rocky worlds with oceans like Earth. However, the researchers were surprised to discover that the inner regions of XUE 10 were comprised of large amounts of carbon dioxide, which could challenge the aforementioned longstanding notions about solar system formation and evolution.
“It reveals how extreme radiation environments — common in massive star-forming regions — can alter the building blocks of planets,” said Dr. Maria-Claudia Ramirez-Tannus, who is a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and a co-author on the study. “Since most stars and likely most planets form in such regions, understanding these effects is essential for grasping the diversity of planetary atmospheres and their habitability potential.”
What new discoveries about protoplanetary disks with carbon dioxide will scientists make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Astronomy & Astrophysics, EurekAlert!
