Latest news with #FrancescoMaio
Economic Times
3 days ago
- Science
- Economic Times
New baby planet twice as big as Neptune emerges from dust around sun-like star, astronomers reveal big discovery; details inside
A new baby planet twice as big as Neptune emerges from dust around sun-like star. (Photo: Instagram/earthskyscience) From meteor showers to solar eclipses, astronomical events always keep us surprised and hooked. Now, in yet another new development, astronomers have found strong evidence that suggests that a baby planet is emerging deep within a swirling disk of gas and dust around the star HD 135344B. According to the online platform Live Science, the newly formed planet, according to astronomers, appears to be sculpting intricate spiral arms around its stellar host. Notably, it is the first time around that a planet has been found embedded inside a dust spiral around a star, actively shaping its environment. According to NASA, the latest discovery further strengthens the proof that the building blocks of planets emerge from protoplanetary disks, giant, doughnut-shaped disks of gas and dust that circle young stars. These dense, rotating clouds of material around young stars have been observed to have rings and spirals, which are suspected to be caused by baby planets, but this is the first direct previously saw the sculpted protoplanetary disk around the star HD 135344B using the SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet Research) instrument on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile. Scientists finally discovered a new planet using a new instrument called the Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS). The planet sits at the base of one spiral arm, exactly where models predicted a planet would need to be to create this feature, and is believed to be twice the size of Jupiter. It's located about as far from its host star as Neptune is from the Sun, roughly 30 times the distance from Earth to the Sun. "What makes this detection potentially a turning point is that, unlike many previous observations, we can directly detect the signal of the protoplanet, which is still highly embedded in the disc," Francesco Maio, a doctoral researcher at the University of Florence and lead author of a study describing the discovery, was quoted by Live Science as saying in a existence of many exoplanets, which are planets orbiting stars other than the Sun, is inferred from other data, such as a dip in a star's brightness that is believed to be caused by a planet. Seeing the planet's light, reflected from its host star, gives the discoverers of the protoplanet much greater confidence in its existence."We will never witness the formation of Earth, but here, around a young star 440 light-years away, we may be watching a planet come into existence in real time," Maio also played a decisive role of a similar nature in another recent discovery. Astronomers used ERIS to find an object, possibly a brown dwarf, an object halfway between a giant planet and a small star, in the protoplanetary disk around the young star V960 Mon, located 5,000 light-years away, in the constellation Monoceros.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
New baby planet twice as big as Neptune emerges from dust around sun-like star, astronomers reveal big discovery; details inside
From meteor showers to solar eclipses, astronomical events always keep us surprised and hooked. Now, in yet another new development, astronomers have found strong evidence that suggests that a baby planet is emerging deep within a swirling disk of gas and dust around the star HD 135344B. According to the online platform Live Science, the newly formed planet, according to astronomers, appears to be sculpting intricate spiral arms around its stellar host. Notably, it is the first time around that a planet has been found embedded inside a dust spiral around a star, actively shaping its environment. According to NASA , the latest discovery further strengthens the proof that the building blocks of planets emerge from protoplanetary disks, giant, doughnut-shaped disks of gas and dust that circle young stars. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Data Science PGDM Healthcare Data Science MBA healthcare others CXO Management Digital Marketing Public Policy Data Analytics Project Management Product Management Cybersecurity Others Technology Design Thinking Leadership Degree Skills you'll gain: Strategic Data-Analysis, including Data Mining & Preparation Predictive Modeling & Advanced Clustering Techniques Machine Learning Concepts & Regression Analysis Cutting-edge applications of AI, like NLP & Generative AI Duration: 8 Months IIM Kozhikode Professional Certificate in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Starts on Jun 26, 2024 Get Details These dense, rotating clouds of material around young stars have been observed to have rings and spirals, which are suspected to be caused by baby planets, but this is the first direct evidence. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Glīd Technologies Delivers: The World's First Autonomous Dual-Mobile Road-to-Rail Platform - TechBullion TechBullion Undo Astronomers previously saw the sculpted protoplanetary disk around the star HD 135344B using the SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet Research) instrument on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile. How did scientists discover baby planet Live Events Scientists finally discovered a new planet using a new instrument called the Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS). The planet sits at the base of one spiral arm, exactly where models predicted a planet would need to be to create this feature, and is believed to be twice the size of Jupiter. It's located about as far from its host star as Neptune is from the Sun, roughly 30 times the distance from Earth to the Sun. What did researchers say about planet discovery "What makes this detection potentially a turning point is that, unlike many previous observations, we can directly detect the signal of the protoplanet, which is still highly embedded in the disc," Francesco Maio, a doctoral researcher at the University of Florence and lead author of a study describing the discovery, was quoted by Live Science as saying in a statement. The existence of many exoplanets, which are planets orbiting stars other than the Sun, is inferred from other data, such as a dip in a star's brightness that is believed to be caused by a planet. Seeing the planet's light, reflected from its host star, gives the discoverers of the protoplanet much greater confidence in its existence. "We will never witness the formation of Earth, but here, around a young star 440 light-years away, we may be watching a planet come into existence in real time," Maio said. Other discoveries by ERIS ERIS also played a decisive role of a similar nature in another recent discovery. Astronomers used ERIS to find an object, possibly a brown dwarf, an object halfway between a giant planet and a small star, in the protoplanetary disk around the young star V960 Mon, located 5,000 light-years away, in the constellation Monoceros.
CBC
22-07-2025
- Science
- CBC
Astronomers capture an image of a potential planet forming around star
Astronomers believe they have caught a planet in the act of forming, something that has never before been witnessed. Planets form out of the leftover gas and dust once a star has ignited, and it's believed that the forming planet or planets create a disk around the host star. While astronomers have seen this protoplanetary disk around many stars, they have never before photographed an actual planet forming within, an action that creates spiral-like structures. While earlier observations of this star didn't reveal any object that could be orbiting it, the team that made this discovery used a different instrument that looked at it in a different wavelength. The authors of the study, published Monday in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters, say they haven't yet confirmed that what they've captured is the formation of a planet or protoplanet. "We have only one image [in] only one wavelength," said Francesco Maio, a doctoral researcher at the University of Florence, and lead author of the study. "We have three images where we don't see this object. So we need to understand the properties of these candidate protoplanets." The object is roughly 440 light years away in a binary, or double, star system, and is believed to be twice the size of Jupiter. It orbits its host star at a distance similar to that of Neptune's distance from the sun. 'Like a cappuccino' Maio described finding the potential planet in the disk in a uniquely Italian way. "The disk is like a cappuccino. The planet is like a spoon in the cappuccino. And when you move the spoon inside the cappuccino, you start to form spirals," he said. Though scientists have previously observed the spirals, Maio says this is the first time they've been able to see what is potentially causing them. "We are not able until now to see the planet that perturbed and generated a spiral," he said. "So you already see this cappuccino with spirals, but we never see the spoons." The discovery was made using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and its Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS) instrument at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile. The disk itself was imaged by another team of astronomers using a different instrument called SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch), which can block out the light of a star in order to see if there are any objects around it. But the previous researchers didn't find anything orbiting the star. Still, researchers say it's promising. "This is an interesting observation. People have been seeing these spiral structures in protoplanetary disks for a long time," said Hanno Rein, an associate professor at the University of Toronto and an exoplanet researcher who was not part of the study. "What's usually missing is the object that is actually creating those spiral arms, or that is forming in those disks. And this team here seems to have found one strong candidate of an object that is at the base of one of those spiral arms that might be a planet forming." 2 stars, different environments Another interesting twist to this discovery is that there is another star in the system, whose environment is very different. The pair are collectively known as HD 135344AB. The star that this potential planet is orbiting is HD 135344B. Both stars are roughly the same age, Maio said. Yet, the other star in the system — HD 135344A — has no protoplanetary disk. "This is very interesting, scientifically speaking, because we don't know why two very similar stars evolved together as two different systems," Maio said. Earlier this month, astronomers looked at the second star with ESO's VLT and SPHERE instrument and found a planet with roughly 10 times Jupiter's mass. While that's one mystery, the question of whether or not there is a protoplanet in the disk of gas and dust from Monday's study will need further investigating, Maio said, and will likely require using other wavelengths to look.
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
What are these strange swirls around an infant star? 'We may be watching a planet come into existence in real time'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Astronomers have seen what appears to be a forming planet carving out a complex pattern in a disk of gas and dust around a young star. The discovery of this spiral architect could help us better understand how planetary systems like the solar system came to be. The infant extrasolar planet, or "exoplanet," is creating a spiral arm pattern in the planet-forming protoplanetary disk of the 10 million-year-old star HD 135344B, also known as SAO 206462, located in the Scorpius OB2-3 star-forming region. If 10 million years old doesn't seem particularly young, remember the sun is considered middle-aged — and its around 4.6 billion years old. The discovery of the potential planetary culprit for this swirling spiral pattern was made using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and its Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph ERIS) instrument. It may represent the first time astronomers have witnessed a planet actively forming within a protoplanetary disk. "We will never witness the formation of Earth, but here, around a young star 440 light-years away, we may be watching a planet come into existence in real time," Francesco Maio, study team leader and a researcher at the University of Florence, said in a statement. Maio and colleagues estimate this budding planet is around twice as large as Jupiter. It orbits HD 135344B at a similar distance to Neptune's orbit around the sun. That's about 30 times the distance between Earth and the sun. And as this potential planet seems to carve channels into the protoplanetary disk of HD 135344B, it is gathering material to further facilitate its growth. Baby exoplanet sweeps up stellar leftovers Stars form from overly dense cool patches in vast clouds of interstellar gas and dust, which collapse under their own gravity. As these stars continue to grow, swirling clouds of gas and dust called protoplanetary disks settle around them. It is within this disk that planets will be born. Astronomers predict that when this happens, these infant worlds sweep up material to build their own masses, creating intricate structures like rings and channels similar to the grooves in a record, and spirals resembling the spiral arms of the Milky Way. However, catching these exoplanet sculptors has been challenging. Exemplifying this is the fact that astronomers had previously detected the spiral structure of HD 135344B's protoplanetary disk, using the VLT Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet Research (SPHERE) instrument — but had missed evidence of a planet causing it. However, ERIS allowed the VLT and its operators to dive deeper into this protoplanetary disk, revealing a prime suspect for its shape: a hidden exoplanet sculptor. This potential baby planet lurks at the base of one of the disk's spiral arms. That is exactly where scientists have predicted such a spiral-sculpting infant planet should dwell. Related Stories: — New kind of pulsar may explain how mysterious 'black widow' systems evolve — Hear 'black widow' pulsar's song as it destroys companion —NASA X-ray spacecraft reveals secrets of a powerful, spinning neutron star "What makes this detection potentially a turning point is that, unlike many previous observations, we are able to directly detect the signal of the protoplanet, which is still highly embedded in the disk,' Maio explained. "This gives us a much higher level of confidence in the planet's existence, as we're observing the planet's own light." The team's research was published on Monday (July 21) in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Solve the daily Crossword
Daily Mail
21-07-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
Astronomers capture images of the birth of a distant planet
Astronomers have captured incredible images of the birth of a distant planet. The planet orbits the star HD 135344B, which is located around 440 light–years from Earth. The stunning snaps show the planet beginning to sculpt spirals of dust and gas around its home star. The scientists who made the discovery say that the planet is likely twice the size of Jupiter and is as far from its star as Neptune is from the Sun. Planets are formed from spinning halos of hot material known as protoplanetary discs , which form around very young stars. As planets start to form, they 'sweep' their orbits to produce intricate patterns of rings, gaps, and spirals in the dust. Although astronomers have spotted these patterns in the past, this is the first time anyone has caught one of these planetary sculptures in the act. Lead author Francesco Maio, a doctoral researcher at the University of Florence, says: 'We will never witness the formation of Earth, but here, around a young star 440 light–years away, we may be watching a planet come into existence in real time.' The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) first spotted the spiral patterns around HD 135344B back in 2016. However, the equipment used in those early studies wasn't sensitive enough to confirm whether there was a protoplanet – the first stage of planetary formation – within the rings. In a new study, published today in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, researchers have used the VLT's new Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS) to pinpoint the planet's likely location. Mr Maio and his co–authors spotted a 'planet candidate' – something strongly believed to be a planet – right at the base of one of the disc's spiral arms. If these spirals were caused by a planet disturbing the ring of dust, that is exactly where astronomers would expect the planet to be. What makes these observations so special is that the astronomers were actually able to capture light coming directly from the planet itself. This is a significant piece of evidence in favour of the theory that gaps and rings in protoplanetary disks around other stars are hiding protoplanets of their own. Mr Maio says: 'What makes this detection potentially a turning point is that, unlike many previous observations, we are able to directly detect the signal of the protoplanet, which is still highly embedded in the disc. These observations could also help shed light on how the planets in our own solar system formed over four billion years ago. At the same time, a second group of researchers have used ERIS to spot another potential planet forming around another young, distant star. V960 Mon sits roughly 5,000 light years from Earth and is believed to be extremely young. When astronomers first found captured images of it in 2023, they found that the star was spitting out arms of gas and dust wider than our entire Milky Way. In this new study, astronomers found that the spiral arms are 'fragmenting' in a way that suggests a process known as 'gravitational instability' is at play. Planets normally form like snowballs rolling down a hill, as matter collides and clumps together into ever bigger lumps – this is known as core accretion. But sometimes, when the gas and dust are cooler and further from the host star, matter will slowly pull itself together under gravity and form clumps that collapse into the core of a planet. Scientists believe this is how gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn typically form. If this is what has caused the fragmentation around V960 Mons, it would be the first time that anyone has ever seen a planet forming via gravitational instability. However, astronomers now say that something even stranger could be lurking around V960 Mons. The researchers believe that the object could be a 'brown dwarf', an object bigger than a planet that didn't gain enough mass to shine as a star. These giant planets can be between 13 and 80 times the size of Jupiter and typically orbit far out from their companion stars. Likewise, no one has yet captured the exact moment that one of these mysterious objects comes into existence.
