Dwarf Star Grows Infants Planets, Including Possible Super Earth

An infant earth has been spotted by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The interferometer of radio telescopes has been giving out impressive results since its inauguration in 2013, the latest one being images of a planet-forming disc.  

TW Hydrae, an orange dwarf star in the Hydra constellation about 175 light years away and 10 million years old, is an interesting target for study. A planet-forming disc has been confirmed to be present around the star. However, new images from the ALMA reveal gaps in the material that is a strong indication of infant planets, including infant Earth, which were formed as particles came together.

Researchers were most intrigued by the gap they with similar distance to that of the Sun from the Earth which indicates that the planet that created it could have Earth-like properties. Dubbed as an infant Earth, it could turn out to be a larger super-Earth, International Business Times, reported. There are also gaps which can be compared to the distance of Uranus and Pluto from our Sun which suggests that there may be two more planets forming.

The project became possible due to the wide separation of the dishes of ALMA, with as much as 15 km distance from each other, providing high spatial resolution. Thanks to this, they were able to gather data by observing radio emissions from millimeter-sized dust particles in the disc, Mashable reported. 

With these findings, there's an indication that TW Hydrae may be similar to our solar system, but in an infant stage. Studying it further could reveal new information how planets form. From here, the researchers are planning to comb the night sky for other planet-forming discs.

The infant Earth is not the only recent news about our universe. A recent study has revealed that the Earth were showered by supernovae in the last few million years. Bombardments coincided with major events in our planet, including the transition from Pliocene into Pleistocene period or the ice age.