Scientists have taken the first detailed images of the icy edges of 74 planetary systems around nearby stars, revealing a vast belt of comets and ice-covered pebbles that could provide clues to how planetary systems resemble our own morphology and evolution.
The first-of-its-kind investigation, led by researchers at Trinity College Dublin, used arrays of radio telescopes in Chile and Hawaii to observe these distant belts of comets, which act as a cosmic deep freezer, storing them at temperatures as low as -250 degrees Celsius water and other compounds.
A new perspective on alien solar systems
The study finds remarkable diversity in these systems, challenging the conventional view of neat rings similar to the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune in our own solar system. Instead, many of the observed systems have broad disks of material, and some of them show evidence of unseen planets through their gravitational influence on the distribution of debris.
“These images reveal a remarkable diversity of band structures,” explains study co-author Dr. Sebastian Marino of the University of Exeter. “Some are narrow rings, like the canonical picture of a ‘belt’ like our solar system’s Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt. But many of them are wide and may be better described as ‘disks’ rather than ‘rings’ “.
Tracking the evolution of the universe
The REASONS (Resolved ALMA and SMA Observations of Nearby Stars) survey captures systems at various stages of development, from newly formed stars to mature systems similar in age to the Sun. This range allows scientists to track how these cometary belts evolve over time.
“The power of large studies like REASONS is to reveal characteristics and trends across entire populations,” said Professor Luca Matera, who led the study at Trinity College Dublin. The team found that older systems contained fewer pebbles as comets gradually eroded away, with the process occurring faster in the belt closer to the central star.
hidden giant
These observations also provide indirect evidence that larger objects lurk within these zones. By studying the vertical thickness of the debris disk, the researchers concluded that there must be objects ranging in width from 140 kilometers to the size of the moon, although they are too small to detect directly.
expect
The research, published in Astronomy and Astrophysics, opens new avenues for future research. “The REASONS data set with planetary system properties will make it possible to study the birth and evolution of these belts,” said Dr. David Wilner of Harvard University and the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Follow-up observations using next-generation telescopes will allow scientists to examine these systems in greater detail, he added.
The findings could help astronomers better understand how our solar system’s comet belt formed and evolved, while also providing insights into possible ice banks around other stars – a key factor in the potential for life beyond Earth.
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