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Sign Of "Embryonic Planets" Forming In Nearby Stellar Systems

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the stork-and-the-supernova dept.

Astronomers are pointing to three nearby stars they say may hold "embryonic planets" -- a missing link in planet-formation theories. As scientists try to piece together how our own planet came to be, they look to the forming planets of other star systems for clues. But astronomers have been unable to find evidence for one of the key stages of planet development, a period early in the planet's formation when it is only as large as tiny Pluto.

5 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Question about viewing far away planets by MozeeToby · · Score: 3, Informative

    No, the stars in question would have to be several billion light years away in order for what you're describing to happen. Theres no way that astronomers can see an accretion disk around a single star from those kind of distances.

  2. An Earth a billion years younger. by iknownuttin · · Score: 4, Informative

    I think what the parent means is that since light takes time to travel, and if someone were a billion light years away; they would be seeing light that's a billion years old and therefore, the Earth a billion years ago.

    --
    I prefer Flambe as apposed flamebait.
    1. Re:An Earth a billion years younger. by mangu · · Score: 3, Informative
      The Earth a billion years ago was long past the stage of the stars mentioned in the article, the time scale would be closer to five billion years.


      Unfortunately, TFA doesn't mention the distance to those stars, but I checked it and the one that's most distant is less than 70 light years away. So, the short answer is those three stars are from 70 million to 200 million times closer than the distance the sun should be to appear that young.

  3. Not from these systems by iamlucky13 · · Score: 2, Informative

    The prime candidates being referenced in the study are only about 60 light years away (from space.com), and only between 10 and 200 million years old. In comparison, our sun is around 4.5 billion years old, so for an alien civillization to see our solar system in a similar stage of evolution, they'd be looking from about 75 million times as far away. Keep in mind we can't even see these nearby proto-planets ourselves...just evidence in the thickness of the star's accretion discs.

    If they can see that far, they'd have already seen so much of this happening that our solar system wouldn't stand out as remotely interesting. And of course, they'd be seeing it 4.5 billion years before intelligent life arose, so they wouldn't get any thrill from spotting an extra-galactic neighbor, either.

  4. Re:Early universe stages matter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    I'm not quite sure I understand what you're asking since it seems already inline with the mainstream theory, but assuming I get the gist of your question, the answer is yes.