Astronomers discover possible miniature solar system

ap on San Diego Union Tribune ^ | 11/29/05 | AP - Los Angeles

[NormsRevenge]

LOS ANGELES – Astronomers peering through ground- and space-based telescopes have discovered what they believe is the birth of the smallest known solar system. Scientists found a tiny brown dwarf – or failed star – less than one hundredth the mass of the sun surrounded by what appears to be a disk of dust and gas.

The brown dwarf – located 500 light years away in the constellation Chamaeleon – appears to be undergoing a planet-forming process that could one day yield a miniature solar system, said Kevin Luhman of Penn State University, who led the discovery.

It's long believed that our solar system came into existence when a huge cloud of gas and dust collapsed to form the sun and planets about 4.5 billion years ago.

The latest finding is intriguing because it's the smallest known brown dwarf to be discovered with planet-forming properties. If the disk forms planets, the resulting solar system will be about 100 times smaller than our system, scientists say.

The discovery was made using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope as well as ground observatories. Results will be published in the Dec. 10 issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Brown dwarfs, which are bigger than a planet but much smaller than a star, are thought to be balls of gas that failed to collect enough mass to start shining.

[NormsRevenge]

On the Net:

Spitzer Space Telescope: www.spitzer.caltech.edu
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/

Hubble Space Telescope: hubble.nasa.gov
http://hubble.nasa.gov/

[Fintan]

 

[NormsRevenge]

CalTech Spitzer Press Release

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. A. Gutermuth (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)

Chaotic Star Birth

Located 1,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Perseus, a reflection nebula called NGC 1333 epitomizes the beautiful chaos of a dense group of stars being born. Most of the visible light from the young stars in this region is obscured by the dense, dusty cloud in which they formed. With NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists can detect the infrared light from these objects. This allows a look through the dust to gain a more detailed understanding of how stars like our sun begin their lives.

The young stars in NGC 1333 do not form a single cluster, but are split between two sub-groups. One group is to the north near the nebula shown as red in the image. The other group is south, where the features shown in yellow and green abound in the densest part of the natal gas cloud. With the sharp infrared eyes of Spitzer, scientists can detect and characterize the warm and dusty disks of material that surround forming stars. By looking for differences in the disk properties between the two subgroups, they hope to find hints of the star- and planet-formation history of this region.

The knotty yellow-green features located in the lower portion of the image are glowing shock fronts where jets of material, spewed from extremely young embryonic stars, are plowing into the cold, dense gas nearby. The sheer number of separate jets that appear in this region is unprecedented. This leads scientists to believe that by stirring up the cold gas, the jets may contribute to the eventual dispersal of the gas cloud, preventing more stars from forming in NGC 1333.

In contrast, the upper portion of the image is dominated by the infrared light from warm dust, shown as red.

[The Electrician]

Astronomers peering through ground- and space-based telescopes have discovered what they believe is the birth of the smallest known solar system.

Bottled city of Kandor?

[beaver fever]

The that is very cute!!!!!!!

[DannyTN]

"in the constellation Chamaeleon "

Appearances can be deceiving.

[Oberon]

???

[Fintan]

Great screen name.

[beaver fever]

So who's the little boy? Yours?

He looks like he's into sports and I love kids and their science projects.

The mobile is a definite keeper.

[Fintan]

No, I don't have children. But when I saw "Miniature Solar System", I couldn't resist...

[Oberon]

Okay, let's try this again...brown dwarf?

[WestVirginiaRebel]

I just hate it when Superior Beings' kids leave their toys lying all over the place...

[Fintan]

How about "Black Hole"?

[beaver fever]

I'm with you on that.

The eight year olds are so charming. Full of energy and imagination. The proud smile is classic.

[Thinkin' Gal]

[citizencon]

Memo to Howard Dean (of the dimunitive stature and brain): your own little planet awaits your homecoming.

[mtg]

I thought brown dwarfs were burned out stars not stars beginning.

[Dustbunny]

The 'Big Bang' on a smaller scale?

[Oberon]

Okay...now, that right there? That was gross!