Planets Forming Around a Sun-like Star

Spitzer_sig07-023_1024

spitzer_sig07-023 November 28th, 2007

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)

This is an artist's rendition of a stellar prodigy that has been spotted about 450 light-years away in a system called UX Tau A by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Astronomers suspect this system's central Sun-like star, which is just one million years old, may already be surrounded by young planets. Scientists hope the finding will provide insight into when planets began to form in our own Solar System.

Spitzer saw a gap in UX Tau A's disk that extends from 0.2 to 56 astronomical units (an astronomical unit is the distance between the Sun and Earth). In our Solar System, this gap would occupy the space between Mercury and Pluto. Such dusty disks are where planets are thought to be born. Dust grains clump together like snowballs to form larger rocks, and then the bigger rocks collide to form the cores of planets. When rocks revolve around their central star, they act like cosmic vacuum cleaners, picking up all the gas and dust in their path and creating gaps.

Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope

Image Source: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/2097-sig07-023-Planets-Forming-Around-a-Sun-like-Star

Curator: Spitzer Space Telescope, Pasadena, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: Public Domain

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Image Details

Image Type
Artwork
Object Name
UX Tau A
Subject - Milky Way
Star > Circumstellar Material > Disk > Protoplanetary
Star > Circumstellar Material > Planetary System
Star > Evolutionary Stage > Main Sequence

Distance

Universescale1
450 light years
Spitzer_sig07-023_1280
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ID
sig07-023
Subject Category
B.3.7.2.1   B.3.7.1   B.3.1.3  
Subject Name
UX Tau A
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)
Release Date
2007-11-28
Lightyears
450
Redshift
Reference Url
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/2097-sig07-023-Planets-Forming-Around-a-Sun-like-Star
Type
Artwork
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Instrument
Color Assignment
Band
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
Spitzer Space Telescope
URL
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu
Name
Spitzer Space Telescope
Email
Telephone
Address
1200 E. California Blvd.
City
Pasadena
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
91125
Country
USA
Rights
Public Domain
Publisher
Spitzer Science Center
Publisher ID
spitzer
Resource ID
sig07-023.tif
Metadata Date
2011-09-06
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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Universescalefull
450 light years

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