An early extrasolar planetary system revealed by planetesimal belts in β Pictoris

Computer Science

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

56

Scientific paper

β Pictoris (β Pic) is a main-sequence star with an edge-on dust disk that might represent a state of the early Solar System. The dust does not seem to be a remnant from the original protoplanetary disk, but rather is thought to have been generated from large bodies like planetesimals and/or comets. The history and composition of the parent bodies can therefore be revealed by determining the spatial distribution, grain size, composition and crystallinity of the dust through high-resolution mid-infrared observations. Here we report that the sub-micrometre amorphous silicate grains around β Pic have peaks in their distribution around 6, 16 and 30AU (1AU is the Sun-Earth distance), whereas the crystalline and micrometre-sized amorphous silicate grains are concentrated in the disk centre. As sub-micrometre grains are blown quickly out from the system by radiation pressure from the central star, the peaks indicate the locations of ongoing dust replenishment, which originates from ring-like distributions of planetesimals or `planetesimal belts'.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

An early extrasolar planetary system revealed by planetesimal belts in β Pictoris 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 An early extrasolar planetary system revealed by planetesimal belts in β Pictoris, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and An early extrasolar planetary system revealed by planetesimal belts in β Pictoris will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1629036

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.