Survey of protoplanetary disks finds their size varies significantly
A survey of the protoplanetary disks in a star-forming region about 400 light years from Earth has found that the size of the disks can vary considerably, with many much smaller than our own solar system.
Using ALMA [Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile], the researchers imaged all known protoplanetary discs around young stars in Lupus, a star forming region located about 400 light years from Earth in the southern constellation Lupus. The survey reveals that two-thirds of the 73 discs are small, with an average radius of six astronomical units, this is about the orbit of Jupiter. The smallest disc found was only 0.6 astronomical units in radius, smaller than the orbit of Earth.
…The small discs were primarily found around low-mass stars, with a mass between 10 and 50 percent of the mass of our Sun. This is the most common type of star found in the universe.
You can read the research paper here [pdf]. The image to the right, figure 1 from the paper, shows 71 of those disks, with two-thirds clearly much smaller than our solar system.
Because exoplanet surveys have found many small exoplanets around low-mass stars, this new data suggests that planets can also form from these small accretion disks, and that planet formation is also ubiquitous throughout the universe.
A survey of the protoplanetary disks in a star-forming region about 400 light years from Earth has found that the size of the disks can vary considerably, with many much smaller than our own solar system.
Using ALMA [Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile], the researchers imaged all known protoplanetary discs around young stars in Lupus, a star forming region located about 400 light years from Earth in the southern constellation Lupus. The survey reveals that two-thirds of the 73 discs are small, with an average radius of six astronomical units, this is about the orbit of Jupiter. The smallest disc found was only 0.6 astronomical units in radius, smaller than the orbit of Earth.
…The small discs were primarily found around low-mass stars, with a mass between 10 and 50 percent of the mass of our Sun. This is the most common type of star found in the universe.
You can read the research paper here [pdf]. The image to the right, figure 1 from the paper, shows 71 of those disks, with two-thirds clearly much smaller than our solar system.
Because exoplanet surveys have found many small exoplanets around low-mass stars, this new data suggests that planets can also form from these small accretion disks, and that planet formation is also ubiquitous throughout the universe.