A weirdly warped planet-forming disk circles a distant trio of stars
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/
“In one of the most complex cosmic dances astronomers have yet spotted, three rings of gas and dust circle a trio of stars.”
In the star system GW Orionis, which is located about 1,300 light-years away in the constellation Orion, A pair of stars are locked in an extravagant dance with a third star that is looping around them. Around these stars is a disk of dust and gas where planets could form. Unlike the disc that created the planets in our solar system, this disk has 3 warped loops. This Strange system is the first discovered of its kind and is reported in two studies by two groups of astronomers.
An initial theory in September by Astronomer Stefan Kraus of the University of Exeter in England and colleagues suggested that gravitational patterns from the triple star dance warped the primordial disk. In a study conducted in May by Jiaqing Bi of the University of Victoria in Canada and colleagues think that a new planet is a likely cause
While tilted disks of gas and dust are quite common around binary systems, it is not seen in systems of more than 2 stars. About 50% of stars in the galaxy have at least one partner star with planets that have a tilted orbit around them.
Each group of scientists ran simulations to figure out how the system had formed. From this point their theories began to differ, Bi’s team suggested that a new not yet discovered planet cleared its orbit of gas and dust splitting the rings. Once the disk was free it was able to move freely into its current state.
Kraus’s team concluded that the unstable gravity from the stars orbit was the cause of the disk breaking apart, a phenomenon known as “disk tearing”. Stars tend to keep disks aligned with themselves and due to the triple star orbit, they each were fighting for dominance over the disk. This phenomenon has been theorized to happen before but this would be the first observed occurrence to date.
The differences between the two theories may be in that of the assumptions of the composition of the disk of matter, or it's viscosity. A more viscous disk would tear like how Kraus had theorized while a less viscous one would need a planet to produce the break. Although there is no real way to tell what the real composition of the disks is. If it is indeed a planet that is causing it, future telescopes potentially could spot it.
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How can we determine the composition of gas clouds in deep space?
Why are phenomena like this so rare?
Why do most systems have a flat plane of gas and dust instead of something more dynamic like this?
How rare are things like this?
One way we could tell what gasses are in these rings is either seeing what color or light they emit or "bounce back", this is probably so rare because it is 3 together and formed these amazing rings. Some may have these flat planes because they form with each other and move in that way. Thanks for brining something so interesting forward- Tyler Ainsworth
ReplyDeleteyes i completely agree! I know that we can tell the composition of distant planets atmospheres by the light spectrum they give off so the same must be applicable to distant gas rings. As for the way gas rings form i believe it has something to do with the axis of the stellar body as well as all the gas and dust wanting to stay together. - Nathan Clark
DeleteVery interesting! I think that this is so rare because not only must one planet tear away from a star, forming a disc but in this situation, it involved three stars. You can tell the composition of gas clouds in deep space by measuring the radiation that they emit.
ReplyDeleteCarissa Bersche
Last year in my Astronomy class we learned about Spectroscopy, a way method astronomers use to tell the composition of stars, planets, etc. If I remember correctly, every "object" has a special fingerprint that they compare among a spectrum chart that measures wavelength/ how much light the object admits. I wonder if they would be able to use this method for this phenomenon, although since its a rare case it may/may not apply. Super interesting topic, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteTrinity Mathis
This is very interesting thanks for sharing! You can find the composition of a gas cloud by looking at the absorption lines in the spectrum where the light was absorbed by the gas, and then measuring the composition of the gas. Or analyzing the light from quasars which are big black holes.
ReplyDelete-Ilori Tankpinou
this is really interesting and I think that it is really rare, we don't
ReplyDeleteknow everything in the universe
I think this is really interesting and I wonder if we could replicate a miniature version of this event in a lab setting to figure what caused something as rare as this to happen.
ReplyDelete-Shirin Saha
I believe that circumstances like these occurring are so rare because for this to happen not only does a planet rip from a star but multiple stars. That enough is rare to to add more component makes sense as to why it would not happen very often.
ReplyDelete-Raquel Morgens
I found this really interesting and rare because we don't know a lot about the universe. I have never heard of anything like that before.
ReplyDelete