Star System 'Just Right' for Building an Earth
Posted by sky | Tags: Astronomy, Earth, Science, World, planet
From NASA.An Earth-like planet is likely forming 424 light-years away in a star system called HD 113766, say astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Scientists have discovered a huge belt of warm dust - enough to build a Mars-size planet or larger - swirling around a distant star that is just slightly more massive than our sun. The dust belt, which they suspect is clumping together into planets, is located in the middle of the system's terrestrial habitable zone. This is the region around a star where liquid water could exist on any rocky planets that might form. Earth is located in the middle of our sun's terrestrial habitable zone. "The timing for this system to be building an Earth is very good," said Carey Lisse, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Baltimore, Md. "If the system was too young, its planet-forming disk would be full of gas, and it would be making gas-giant planets like Jupiter instead. If the system was too old, then dust aggregation or clumping would have already occurred and all the system's rocky planets would have already formed." According to Lisse, the conditions for forming an Earth-like planet are more than just being in the right place at the right time and around the right star - it's also about the right mix of dusty materials. Lisse says that HD 113766 does not contain any water ice, carbonates, or fragile organic materials; stuffs that makes up infant solar systems and comets. Studies tell us that metals began separating from rocks in Earth's early days, when the planet's body was completely molten. During this time, almost all the heavy metals fell to Earth's center in a process called "differentiation." Lisse says that, unlike planets and asteroids, the metals in HD 113766 have not totally separated from the rocky material, suggesting that rocky planets have not yet formed. "The material mix in this belt is most reminiscent of the stuff found in lava flows on Earth. I thought of Mauna Kea material when I first saw the dust composition in this system - it contains raw rock and is abundant in iron sulfides, which are similar to fool's gold," said Lisse. Mauna Kea is a well-known volcano in Hawaii. "It is fantastic to think we are able to detect the process of terrestrial planet formation. Stay tuned - I expect lots more fireworks as the planet in HD113766 grows," he adds.Related: Mars Once Had Large Oceans. Previous Post Next Post