AssetID: 54924278
Headline: Astronomers Spot The Birth Of A Solar System For First Time
Caption: Astronomers have spotted the birth of a new solar system for the very first time ever. Using the ALMA telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope, they observed the creation of the first specks of planet-forming material - hot minerals just beginning to solidify. ”For the first time, we have identified the earliest moment when planet formation is initiated around a star other than our Sun,” says Melissa McClure of Leiden University. Co-author Merel van ‘t Hoff, a professor at Purdue University, USA, compares their findings to "a picture of the baby Solar System”, saying that “we're seeing a system that looks like what our Solar System looked like when it was just beginning to form.” This newborn planetary system is emerging around HOPS-315, a ‘proto’ or baby star that sits some 1300 light-years away from us and is an analogue of the nascent Sun. Around such baby stars, astronomers often see discs of gas and dust known as ‘protoplanetary discs’, which are the birthplaces of new planets. While astronomers have previously seen young discs that contain newborn, massive, Jupiter-like planets, this is the first time they have found evidence of ‘planetesimals’, meteorites packed full of crystalline minerals that contain silicon monoxide that condense into planetary discs.
Keywords: Science & Technology,Astronomers,spot,birth,solar system,ALMA,telescope,James Webb Space Telescope,creation,specks,planet-forming,material,minerals,Sun,Melissa McClure,Leiden University,Merel van ‘t Hoff,Purdue University,USA,planetary,HOPS-315,star,proto,discs,gas,dust,space,monoxide,condense
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