Astronomers have recently made exciting discoveries regarding the early stages of planet formation in nearby stellar nurseries. By studying flattened clouds of gas and dust known as "protoplanetary disks" around young stars, scientists are gaining unprecedented insights into how planets take their first "steps."
One significant recent discovery involved zooming in on 78 disks in the Ophiuchus star-forming region, located about 460 light-years from Earth – making it the closest star-forming region to our solar system. Researchers observed previously unseen rings, spirals, and other substructures within these swirling, plate-like planet-forming clouds around stars that are only a few hundred thousand years old. This suggests that substructures, which are crucial for planet formation, begin to form much earlier than previously thought, even while the disks are still rich in gas and dust. These findings imply a co-evolution of stars and planets from their earliest stages.
Other recent discoveries in stellar nurseries include:
The detection of a "baby" hot Jupiter: Astronomers found a newborn hot Jupiter orbiting an infant star just 2 million years old in the Taurus stellar nursery. This discovery provides evidence that such giant planets can form and migrate to close orbits very early in a star system's life.
The "seeing" of a planet being born: The James Webb Space Telescope has captured images of six Jupiter-sized worlds in the young star cluster NGC1333, located about 1,000 light-years away. The smallest of these worlds is surrounded by a dusty disk that could eventually give rise to moons, offering new clues into star and planetary formation.
Identification of an infant planet through transit: A rare glimpse of a newborn planet named IRAS 04125+2902 b, only about 3 million years old and residing 430 light-years away in the Taurus Molecular Cloud, was achieved through the transit method. Its sharply warped outer debris disk allowed for observations as it passed in front of its host star, dimming the star's light.
These discoveries, often made with powerful telescopes like ALMA and the James Webb Space Telescope, are providing crucial information about the initial conditions that lead to the formation of diverse planetary systems, including our own.