Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Manoj Kumar
An international team of astronomers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to study the protoplanetary disk around a young, low-mass star, uncovering the largest number of carbon-containing molecules ever observed in such a disk.
Credit : NASA
The findings have significant implications for the potential composition of planets that may form around this star, potentially influencing their chemical makeup.
Rocky planets are more likely to form around low-mass stars than gas giants, making this research crucial for understanding the most common planets around the most common stars in our galaxy.
Planet-forming disks around very low-mass stars are difficult to study due to their smaller size and fainter emissions compared to disks around high-mass stars.
The MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) Mid-INfrared Disk Survey (MINDS) program leverages Webb’s advanced sensitivity and spectral resolution to study these disks, capabilities that are not possible with Earth-based telescopes.
The team studied ISO-ChaI 147, a star 1 to 2 million years old with a mass just 0.11 times that of the Sun. Webb’s MIRI identified 13 different carbon-bearing molecules in its disk, including the first detection of ethane (C2H6) outside our solar system.
The discovery of diverse and abundant hydrocarbon molecules in the disk is different from what is typically found in disks around solar-type stars, where oxygen-bearing molecules like water and carbon dioxide dominate.
The science team plans to expand their study to a larger sample of disks around very low-mass stars to determine how common or unique these carbon-rich terrestrial planet-forming regions are.