Massive Planets Carve Dusty Paths Around Young Stars

Giant planets may be carving paths around four young stars. Scientists have taken a closer look at the gassy structures around the stars and have found that they may just be surrounded by planets.

While planets appear to be remarkably plentiful in our galaxy, researchers still aren't sure exactly how they form. In order to answer this question, the scientists studied the structure and composition of planet-forming disks of dust and gas around young stars.

Certain disks, called transitional disks, have a surprising absence of dust at their centers, in the region around the star. There are two main explanations for this. The first one is that strong, stellar winds and intense radiation from the star could have blown away or simply destroyed the encircling gas and dust. The other explanation is that massive young planets in the process of formation could have clared the material as they orbit the star. Previous observations lacked the sensitivity and resolution in order to determine the most likely explanation.

Now, though, researchers may have an answer. Using ALMA, the scientists mapped the distribution of gas and dust in four of these transitional disks better than ever before. The new images confirm that the dust-free zones of these disks are not empty, but instead contain significant amounts of gas. These gas-filled regions contain cavities that are up to three times smaller than the gaps observed in the dust. Such structure are best explained in the scenario in which newly formed massive planets have cleared the gas as they traveled around their orbits.

The findings reveal a bit more about how planets form, and may tell researchers a bit more about our own galaxy.

The findings are published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

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