Other
Scientific paper
Nov 2004
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004eso..pres...27.&link_type=abstract
ESO Press Release, 11/2004
Other
Scientific paper
VLT Interferometer Studies the Inner Region of Circumstellar Discs [1]
Summary
One of the currently hottest astrophysical topics - the hunt for Earth-like planets around other stars - has just received an important impetus from new spectral observations with the MIDI instrument at the ESO VLT Interferometer (VLTI).
An international team of astronomers [2] has obtained unique infrared spectra of the dust in the innermost regions of the proto-planetary discs around three young stars - now in a state possibly very similar to that of our solar system in the making, some 4,500 million years ago.
Reporting in this week's issue of the science journal Nature, and thanks to the unequalled, sharp and penetrating view of interferometry, they show that in all three, the right ingredients are present in the right place to start formation of rocky planets at these stars.
PR Photo 32a/04: Mid-IR spectrum of the inner disc around the star HD 142527, compared to those of common types of dust. PR Photo 32b/04: Mid-IR spectra of the inner and outer disc regions of three young stars. PR Photo 32c/04: Comparison of mid-IR spectra of various astronomical objects with those of the inner and outer disc regions of three young stars.
"Sand" in the inner regions of stellar discs
ESO PR Photo 32a/04
ESO PR Photo 32a/04
Mid-IR spectrum of the inner disc around the star HD 142527, compared to those of common types of dust
[Preview - JPEG: 400 x 541 pix - 120k] [Normal - JPEG: 800 x 1032 pix - 280k]
Caption: ESO PR Photo 32a/04 presents a mid-IR spectrum of the inner region of the protoplanetary disc around the young star HD 142527, as observed with the MIDI instrument at the VLT Interferometer (upper). Below it are shown laboratory spectra of two crystalline minerals as well as of an Interplanetary Dust Particle (IDP; captured in the Earth's upper atmosphere) with hydrated silicates and, at the bottom, a typical telescopic spectrum of dust grains in the interstellar space. The spectral "signatures" of crystalline pyroxene and olivine, i.e. peaks at wavelength 9.2 and 11.3 µm, respectively, are clearly visible in the spectrum of the inner stellar disc, demonstrating the presence of these species in that region of the disc.
The Sun was born about 4,500 million years ago from a cold and massive cloud of interstellar gas and dust that collapsed under its own gravitational pull. A dusty disc was present around the young star, in which the Earth and other planets, as well as comets and asteroids were later formed.
This epoch is long gone, but we may still witness that same process by observing the infrared emission from very young stars and the dusty protoplanetary discs around them. So far, however, the available instrumentation did not allow a study of the distribution of the different components of the dust in such discs; even the closest known are too far away for the best single telescopes to resolve them. But now, as Francesco Paresce, Project Scientist for the VLT Interferometer and a member of the team from ESO explains, "With the VLTI we can combine the light from two well-separated large telescopes to obtain unprecedented angular resolution. This has allowed us, for the first time, to peer directly into the innermost region of the discs around some nearby young stars, right in the place where we expect planets like our Earth are forming or will soon form".
Specifically, new interferometric observations of three young stars by an international team [2], using the combined power of two 8.2-m VLT telescopes a hundred metres apart, has achieved sufficient image sharpness (about 0.02 arcsec) to measure the infrared emission from the inner region of the discs around three stars (corresponding approximately to the size of the Earth's orbit around the Sun) and the emission from the outer part of those discs. The corresponding infrared spectra have provided crucial information about the chemical composition of the dust in the discs and also about the average grain size.
These trailblazing observations show that the inner part of the discs is very rich in crystalline silicate grains ("sand") with an average diameter of about 0.001 mm. They are formed by coagulation of much smaller, amorphous dust grains that were omnipresent in the interstellar cloud that gave birth to the stars and their discs.
Model calculations show that crystalline grains should be abundantly present in the inner part of the disc at the time of formation of the Earth. In fact, the meteorites in our own solar system are mainly composed of this kind of silicate.
Dutch astronomer Rens Waters, a member of the team from the Astronomical Institute of University of Amsterdam, is enthusiastic: "With all the ingredients in place and the formation of larger grains from dust already started, the formation of bigger and bigger chunks of stone and, finally, Earth-like planets from these discs is almost unavoidable!"
Transforming the grains
It has been known for some time that most of the dust in discs around newborn stars is made up of silicates. In the natal cloud this dust is amorphous, i.e. the atoms and molecules that make up a dust grain are put together in a chaotic way, and the grains are fluffy and very small, typically about 0.0001 mm in size. However, near the young star where the temperature and density are highest, the dust particles in the circumstellar disc tend to stick together so that the grains become larger. Moreover, the dust is heated by stellar radiation and this causes the molecules in the grains to re-arrange themselves in geometric (crystalline) patterns.
Accordingly, the dust in the disc regions that are closest to the star is soon transformed from "pristine" (small and amorphous) to "processed" (larger and crystalline) grains.
VLTI observations
ESO PR Photo 32b/04
ESO PR Photo 32b/04
Mid-IR spectra of the inner and outer disc regions of three young stars
[Preview - JPEG: 400 x 563 pix - 136k] [Normal - JPEG: 800 x 1126 pix - 282k]
Caption: ESO PR Photo 32b/04 shows a schematic view of a circumstellar disc and the MIDI-spectra observed of the inner and outer regions of the discs around three young stars, HD 163296, HD 144432 and HD 142527 (black lines). In all of them, there are clear spectral differences between the inner and outer regions, indicating a difference in mineralogy. The general broadening of the spectral "mountain" in the inner discs is a sign of larger grains and the spectral peak at wavelength 11.3 µm indicates the presence of crystalline silicates, cf. PR Photo 32a/04. Also shown are best-fit model spectra (red lines), based on mixtures of the mentioned mineral species.
Spectral observations of silicate grains in the mid-infrared wavelength region (around 10 µm) will tell whether they are "pristine" or "processed". Earlier observations of discs around young stars have shown a mixture of pristine and processed material to be present, but it was so far impossible to tell where the different grains resided in the disc.
Thanks to a hundred-fold increase in angular resolution with the VLTI and the highly sensitive MIDI instrument, detailed infrared spectra of the various regions of the protoplanetary discs around three newborn stars, only a few million years old, now show that the dust close to the star is much more processed than the dust in the outer disc regions. In two stars (HD 144432 and HD 163296) the dust in the inner disc is fairly processed whereas the dust in the outer disc is nearly pristine. In the third star (HD 142527) the dust is processed in the entire disc. In the central region of this disc, it is extremely processed, consistent with completely crystalline dust.
An important conclusion from the VLTI observations is therefore that the building blocks for Earth-like planets are present in circumstellar discs from the very start. This is of great importance as it indicates that planets of the terrestrial (rocky) type like the Earth are most probably quite common in planetary systems, also outside the solar system.
The pristine comets
ESO PR Photo 32c/04
ESO PR Photo 32c/04
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