How can timing influence planetary formation and evolution? This is what a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated the processes involved in the formation and evolution of exoplanets. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the interaction between a star and exoplanet during the latter’s formation and evolution and what this could mean for finding life beyond Earth.
For the study, the researchers used a series of computer models to simulate the combination of dust within a protoplanetary disk and the compositional interior of planets. The goal was to ascertain the specific processes responsible for planetary formation and evolution when compared to host stars. In the end, the researchers found that planets with larger interiors, specifically mantles and cores, resulted from elements produced from dying large stars. In essence, planetary formation depends on the correct timing in catching a star when it’s near death.
“Materials that go into making planets are formed inside of stars that have different lifetimes,” said Dr. Jason Steffen, who is an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UNLV and lead author of the study. “These findings help explain why older, rocky planets are less dense than younger planets like the Earth and also suggest that the necessary ingredients for life didn’t arrive all at once.”
This study comes as the number of confirmed exoplanets by NASA recently reached 6,000 while the number of potentially habitable exoplanets continues to increase, too. Therefore, studies like this could help astronomers better understand the right conditions for finding habitable exoplanets, thus narrowing the search to a select few.
What new discoveries about exoplanet formation and evolution will researchers make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: The Astrophysical Journal Letters, EurekAlert!
Featured Image Credit: NASA/Tim Pyle
