In the protoplanetary disk around a distant young stars, first discovered the spiral arms. Perhaps, they say that in this cloud of gas and dust hiding already started to form, but still unseen planet.
A study by scientists computer simulation showed that this effect of gravity of young planets hidden in the protoplanetary disk that can create similar helical formation, so reminiscent of the spiral arms of galaxies like our regular Milky Way. And now these theoretical works brilliantly confirmed in the actual observations made with the help of a telescope located in Hawaii Subaru.
The work was conducted by astronomer Carole Grady (Carol Grady) and her colleagues on the project ... This five-year program aims to study the young stars and their surrounding disks of gas and dust in the near- infrared wavelengths - in total, it involved more than a hundred scientists from 25 research organizations.
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These conclusions came after scientists observing the star SAO 206462, situated in 456 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of the Wolf. By their estimation, the star of quite young, not more than 9 million years old, and the surrounding protoplanetary disk space encompasses 22.5 billion kilometers - twice the orbit of Pluto in the Solar System.
Observations of the telescope Subaru in the near- infrared have revealed that the outer region of the disk form a very interesting structure - a pair of spiral arms. According to theoretical calculations, one planet, which appeared in the protoplanetary disk can lead to the appearance of two such arms on either side of the disc. Available in a picture does not match a pair of Subaru to these calculations: apparently, we do not see all of the sleeves, and each one is connected with its apparent single planet.
However, the study authors note that the appearance of such structures may well cause other processes that are not associated with the formation of planets. Until finally resolve this issue can not be.
Read, by the way, about a very interesting puzzle related to the major spiral arms of galaxies, ...
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