Evidence Of Two Newborn Planets Discovered Around Young Star

A team of scientists reportedly believe that they have found strong proof of two newborn planets, each about Saturn's size, orbiting around a young star called HD 163296. The presence of the two not-fully-developed planets was unveiled by their dual imprint left in the gas and dust portions of the host star's protoplanetary disk.

According to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, the research team of astronomers took the help of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope to trace the distribution of both the carbon monoxide (CO) gas components and the dust of the disk at nearly the same level of detail. "Our new observations provide intriguing evidence that planets are indeed forming around this one young star," said Andrea Isella, study lead author and astronomer at Rice University in Houston, Texas, U.S. "ALMA has shown us amazing images and never-before-seen views of the rings and gaps around young stars that could be the hallmarks of planet formation."

The scientists who conducted the study detected three prominent gaps in the star's dust-filled protoplanetary disk. Furthermore, the team also found that there was a noticeable dip in the amount of carbon monoxide in two outer gaps of dust. The astronomers used ALMA to discover the slight millimeter-wavelength "glow" that the gas molecules were emitting.

The same features were noticed in both the dust and gas components of the disk, which served as strong evidence that two planets were developing far from the host star. Moreover, the depth and width of both the carbon monoxide gaps indicated that each of the infant planets have nearly the same mass as Saturn.

The team also found that that there is a very slight difference, if at all, in the concentration of carbon monoxide gas compared to the surrounding dusty disk in the gap closest to the star. This finding means that the innermost gap could have been created by something other than a newly forming planet.