June 14th 05, 06:39 PM
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/press/pr0517.html
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Release No.: 05-17
For Release: Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Note to editors: Images to accompany this release are available online
at http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/press/pr0517image.html.
SMA Confirms Proto-Planetary Systems are Common in the Galaxy
Cambridge, MA-- Meeting this week in Cambridge, Mass., astronomers
using
the Submillimeter Array (SMA) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, confirmed, for the
first time, that many of the objects termed "proplyds" found in the
Orion Nebula do have sufficient material to form new planetary systems
like our own.
"The SMA is the only telescope that can measure the dust within the
Orion proplyds, and thereby assess their true potential for forming
planets. This is critical in our understanding of how solar systems
form
in hostile regions of space," said Jonathan Williams of the University
of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, lead author on a paper submitted to
The Astrophysical Journal.
Surviving in the chaotic regions within the Orion Nebula where stellar
winds can reach a staggering two million miles per hour and
temperatures
exceed a searing 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the question remained -
would enough material endure to form a new solar system or would it be
eroded away into space like wind and sand eroding away desert cliffs?
It
now appears that these protoplanetary disks are quite tenacious,
bringing new grounds for optimism in the search for planetary systems.
Imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope back in the early 1990s as
misshapen silhouettes against the nebular background, the most
spectacular proplyds appear bright. Their surrounding ionized cocoons
glow due to their close proximity to a nearby hot star formation called
the Trapezium. The Trapezium is a star cluster consisting of more than
1,000 young, hot stars that are only 1 million years old. They
condensed
out of the original cold, dark cloud of gas that now glows from their
ionizing light. They are crowded into a space about 4 light-years in
diameter, the same as the distance between the Sun and Proxima
Centauri,
the next closest star in space.
Blasted by the solar winds of the Trapezium, the proplyds are the next
generation of smaller stars to arise in Orion, this time with visible
discs that may be forming planets. It has remained unclear, however,
whether they contained enough material to form stable planetary
systems.
Using the SMA, astronomers now have been able to probe deep inside
these
disks to measure their mass and to unravel the formation process
presented by these potential infant solar systems.
"While the Hubble pictures were spectacular, they revealed only
disk-like shapes that did not tell us the amount of material present,"
said David Wilner, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
(CfA). Since some of the discs appear to be comparable in size and mass
to our own solar system, this strengthens the connection between the
Orion proplyds and our origins.
Since most Sun-like stars in the Galaxy eventually form in environments
like the Orion Nebula, the SMA results suggest that the formation of
solar systems like our own is common and a continuing event in the
Galaxy.
"The same cycle of birth, life and death we experience here on Earth is
repeated in the stars overhead. Now, the SMA provides us with a
front-row seat in unraveling the wonder of these cosmic events,"
reflected Wilner.
Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics (CfA) is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. CfA
scientists, organized into six research divisions, study the origin,
evolution and ultimate fate of the universe.
For more information, contact:
David Aguilar, Director of Public Affairs
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Phone: 617-495-7462 Fax: 617-495-7468
Christine Pulliam
Public Affairs Specialist
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Phone: 617-495-7463, Fax: 617-495-7016
Jonathan Williams
University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy
Office: 808-956-8355, Cell: 808-554-5604
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Release No.: 05-17
For Release: Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Note to editors: Images to accompany this release are available online
at http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/press/pr0517image.html.
SMA Confirms Proto-Planetary Systems are Common in the Galaxy
Cambridge, MA-- Meeting this week in Cambridge, Mass., astronomers
using
the Submillimeter Array (SMA) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, confirmed, for the
first time, that many of the objects termed "proplyds" found in the
Orion Nebula do have sufficient material to form new planetary systems
like our own.
"The SMA is the only telescope that can measure the dust within the
Orion proplyds, and thereby assess their true potential for forming
planets. This is critical in our understanding of how solar systems
form
in hostile regions of space," said Jonathan Williams of the University
of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, lead author on a paper submitted to
The Astrophysical Journal.
Surviving in the chaotic regions within the Orion Nebula where stellar
winds can reach a staggering two million miles per hour and
temperatures
exceed a searing 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the question remained -
would enough material endure to form a new solar system or would it be
eroded away into space like wind and sand eroding away desert cliffs?
It
now appears that these protoplanetary disks are quite tenacious,
bringing new grounds for optimism in the search for planetary systems.
Imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope back in the early 1990s as
misshapen silhouettes against the nebular background, the most
spectacular proplyds appear bright. Their surrounding ionized cocoons
glow due to their close proximity to a nearby hot star formation called
the Trapezium. The Trapezium is a star cluster consisting of more than
1,000 young, hot stars that are only 1 million years old. They
condensed
out of the original cold, dark cloud of gas that now glows from their
ionizing light. They are crowded into a space about 4 light-years in
diameter, the same as the distance between the Sun and Proxima
Centauri,
the next closest star in space.
Blasted by the solar winds of the Trapezium, the proplyds are the next
generation of smaller stars to arise in Orion, this time with visible
discs that may be forming planets. It has remained unclear, however,
whether they contained enough material to form stable planetary
systems.
Using the SMA, astronomers now have been able to probe deep inside
these
disks to measure their mass and to unravel the formation process
presented by these potential infant solar systems.
"While the Hubble pictures were spectacular, they revealed only
disk-like shapes that did not tell us the amount of material present,"
said David Wilner, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
(CfA). Since some of the discs appear to be comparable in size and mass
to our own solar system, this strengthens the connection between the
Orion proplyds and our origins.
Since most Sun-like stars in the Galaxy eventually form in environments
like the Orion Nebula, the SMA results suggest that the formation of
solar systems like our own is common and a continuing event in the
Galaxy.
"The same cycle of birth, life and death we experience here on Earth is
repeated in the stars overhead. Now, the SMA provides us with a
front-row seat in unraveling the wonder of these cosmic events,"
reflected Wilner.
Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics (CfA) is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. CfA
scientists, organized into six research divisions, study the origin,
evolution and ultimate fate of the universe.
For more information, contact:
David Aguilar, Director of Public Affairs
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Phone: 617-495-7462 Fax: 617-495-7468
Christine Pulliam
Public Affairs Specialist
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Phone: 617-495-7463, Fax: 617-495-7016
Jonathan Williams
University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy
Office: 808-956-8355, Cell: 808-554-5604