Substantial reservoirs of molecular hydrogen in the debris disks around young stars

Details Substantial reservoirs of molecular hydrogen in the debris disks around young stars Substantial reservoirs of molecular hydrogen in the debris disks around young stars

Jan 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001natur.409...60t&link_type=abstract

Nature, Volume 409, Issue 6816, pp. 60-63 (2001).

Physics

83

Scientific paper

Circumstellar accretion disks transfer matter from molecular clouds to young stars and to the sites of planet formation. The disks observed around pre-main-sequence stars have properties consistent with those expected for the pre-solar nebula from which our own Solar System formed 4.5Gyr ago. But the `debris' disks that encircle more than 15% of nearby main-sequence stars appear to have very small amounts of gas, based on observations of the tracer molecule carbon monoxide: these observations have yielded gas/dust ratios much less than 0.1, whereas the interstellar value is about 100 (ref. 9). Here we report observations of the lowest rotational transitions of molecular hydrogen (H2) that reveal large quantities of gas in the debris disks around the stars β Pictoris, 49 Ceti and HD135344. The gas masses calculated from the data are several hundreds to a thousand times greater than those estimated from the CO observations, and yield gas/dust ratios of the same order as the interstellar value.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Substantial reservoirs of molecular hydrogen in the debris disks around young stars does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Substantial reservoirs of molecular hydrogen in the debris disks around young stars, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Substantial reservoirs of molecular hydrogen in the debris disks around young stars will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-904408