Scientists have made a new discovery about how small planets form. Researchers at the University of Warwick are investigating the “birth environment” of planets—regions of gas and dust swirling around a central star—known as protoplanetary disks.
They discovered a new method of planet formation in this region, which had not been described in previous research. The work is submitted to the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and will be shown at the National Astronomy Meeting, which starts today, Monday 3 July. The team showed how two large planets in a protoplanetary disk could potentially give rise to a smaller planet between them—what they call “sandwiched planet formation.”
The reason for this is that the two original, large planets prevent dust from entering. This means that the amount of dust collected between them is reduced compared to if there were no outer planets. If that dust eventually accumulates to form a planet, then the middle planet will likely be smaller than the outer two planets —like the filling of a sandwich.
While more research is needed in the field, this theory may present a possible explanation for the formation of small planets; such as Mars and Uranus, each of which is surrounded by large planets.
Associate Professor and Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow, Farzana Meru, from the Department of Physics at the University of Warwick, said, “In the last decade, observations have revealed that rings and gaps exist in protoplanetary disks. , and we know from work theorizes that planets cause rings of dust to form just outside them. What exactly happens to those rings raises important questions for astronomers around the world.
“In our study, we propose the rings as places of planet formation; in particular, that there are sandwiched planets that are now forming in those rings. This is very different from the conventional view of planet formation, where we usually expect that planets form sequentially. from the inside to the outside of the disk and come out larger. What’s also interesting is that there are examples that we find from exoplanet observations that actually show this sandwiched planetary architecture—where the central planet is less massive than its neighbors; this is a reasonable proportion of systems as well.
“The field of planet formation has recently been renewed. High-resolution images of planet-forming disks have emerged in the last ten years since a new sophisticated telescope (the Atacama Large Millimeter /submillimeter Array) is starting to observe the night sky. It’s giving us clues about how planets form and evolve; it’s exciting to be at the forefront of this research.
Given by the Royal Astronomical Society
Citation: ‘Sandwich’ discovery offers new explanation for planet formation (2023, July 3) retrieved 4 July 2023 from https://phys.org/news/2023-07-sandwich-discovery-explanation- planet-formation.html
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