Over the last few decades , astronomers have identify that planets are highly common . Now they are focusing on better understanding how they form . And there have been some curveballs , delivering completely unexpected brainstorm . Among the late ace , researchers discovered that even around the hot stars , you could find the building barricade ofrocky planet .
This discovery was not predict . Hotter stars emit a lot of ultraviolet light , which can well breach apart molecules . UsingJWST , astronomers conducted an investigation of 15 eXtreme Ultraviolet Environments ( XUE ) located in the Lobster Nebula . The nebula host some of the most massive stars in the galaxy , and their brightness should disseminate and destroy the material place in the inmost parts of theirplanet - forming disks . That ’s where rough planets like the Earth form .
The first target , XUE 1 , is a protoplanetary disk that has been exposed to a Brobdingnagian amount of ultraviolet radiation . JWST showed that despite these uttermost strong-arm conditions , the building block of bumpy planets are all there , including crystalline silicate dust .
“ We find that the inner disk around XUE 1 is remarkably similar to those in nearby star - forge regions , ” team member Rens Waters , of Radboud University in the Netherlands , said in astatement . “ We ’ve observe water and other molecules like carbon monoxide , atomic number 6 dioxide , hydrogen nitril and acetylene . However , the emission constitute was weak than some models betoken . This might imply a small outer disk radius . ”
“ We were surprised and worked up because this is the first time that these molecules have been discover under these extreme conditions , ” added Lars Cuijpers , also of Radboud University .
While there is variance , the similarities between these extreme disc and the more common ones are there . This does n’t mean that rocky planets might be common around these stars , and XUE 1 might also be an exception among these extreme environments . The squad is going to inquire all the other targets to see what sort of molecules persist around other brightfledgling stars .
“ XUE 1 shows us that the stipulation to forge rocky planets are there , so the next step is to ascertain how vulgar that is , ” squad chair María Claudia Ramírez - Tannus of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany . “ We will respect other disks in the same area to determine the relative frequency with which these condition can be observed . ”
The study is published inThe Astrophysical Journal Letters .
