Planet birth witnessed for 1st time


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Cool!

For the first time, scientists believe they've detected the birth of a new world around a distant sun-like star.

If confirmed, the discovery, using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, would provide scientists with the earliest view yet of how short-lived discs of material around young stars clump together in the early stages of planetary formation.

Astronomers studying T Chamaeleontis (T Cha), a faint star 350 light years from Earth in the southern constellation of Chamaeleon, detected a large gap in a disc of material around the star. They then found a small object in the disc which may be the cause of the gap.

The finding is detailed in two papers in the current edition of the Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Johan Olofsson from Germany's Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and lead author of one of the papers said the star was targeted because it's comparable to the sun, but at just seven million years old it's still near the beginning of its life.

"Earlier studies had shown that T Cha was an excellent target for studying how planetary systems form, but this star is quite distant and the full power of the Very Large Telescope was needed to resolve very fine details and see what is going on in the dust disc," Olofsson says.

Planets forming from dust

Scientists know planets form out of the discs of material around young stars, but theory says the transition from dust disc to planetary system is rapid and few objects are caught during this phase.

This is the first time a forming planet has been found in one of these transitional discs, although planets in more mature discs have been seen before.

Nuria Huelamo from the Centro de Astrobiologia, in Spain, and lead author of the second paper said the gap in the disc was the smoking gun.

"We asked ourselves: could we be witnessing a companion digging a gap inside its protoplanetary disc?"

After careful analysis they found the clear signature of an object located within the gap in the dust disc, about one billion kilometres from the star. That's slightly further out than Jupiter lies from our sun.

This is the first detection of an object much smaller than a star within a gap in the planet-forming dust disc around a young star.

Future observations will determine whether this is a planet or a brown dwarf, a gaseous body not big enough to begin the nuclear fusion process that makes stars shine.

Earliest evidence of planet building

Brad Carter, lecturer in physics at the University of Southern Queensland, said the observation is in line with current theory of planetary formation.

"It's a significant development, the earliest evidence of a dust disc transitioning to a planetary system."

"Unlike earlier discoveries of similar discs, this star is still very young and so tells us planets form very early on in the life of a star."

Planetary scientist Charley Lineweaver from the Australian National University, Mount Stromlo Observatory says it's beautiful to have such a nice confirmation of a planet emptying out a disc.

"What we are trying to do is trace the entire history of planetary formation from a gaseous disc, into a debris disc, into a planetary disc. All of these are steps which we think happen."

"It's like looking into a forest and not knowing where trees come from. And then one day, seeing a young tree and wondering if that's how fully grown trees start out."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/02/25/science-planet-birth.html

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Dont understand me wrong, I love this kind of research and i think that it is rather amazing however, at the same time i find it to me amazing that we are able to see things and discover things that are happening soo far away (and so far in the past due to light speed differentiation) yet at the same time we have still yet to discover information about our own planet.

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littleneutrino / i used to think the same.. but then i got the answer myself. These ppl specialise in those research. Ppl who specialise in local research do that work. Its just that these ppl find new things (and less about how it works). Here on earth we have found most of the stuff what we know less is how it all works. And thats a harder job then just finding something.

There is so much potential in different materials that could replace Metal. Plastic. And our skin and veins. Muscles... I am waiting for that stuff!.. its gona make the biggest difference in my eyes.

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Blood vessels are being grown -

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/32264/?p1=MstRcnt

Electroactive polymer muscles already exist -

http://medgadget.com/archives/2010/01/electroactive_polymer_technology_used_to_create_artificial_eyelid_muscle.html

Neuro-chips have been deployed in animals -

http://neurogadget.com/2011/02/08/implantable-bci-research-funded-by-1-million/856

and approval for the DARPA brain-controlled bionic arm and its brain-machine interface has been fast-tracked by the FDA. This arm will have up to 27 ways of freedom and sensory capability -

http://esciencenews.com/sources/popsci/2011/02/10/darpas.brain.controlled.robotic.arm.fast.tracked.could.be.available.just.four.years

Lots of work being done here, so a little off-planet seems OK.

DARPA arm video

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We are able to find new species of animals almost every week and to witness the birth of a planet billions of miles away, but not able to find Bin laden on the same planet we are ? Or is it that those who are looking for him are doing it with their eyes shut ? Not that I' playing down such an amazing discovery as the one described on the news article but, it makes you wander.

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Much of the AQ ruling council and most of Bin Laden's sons who are involved have been "guests" of Iran since shortly after we invaded Afghanistan, so what's hard to understand? That ditty has been reported by the BBC, CBS, al Jazzera etc. etc.

Also, even if they are in Pakistan much of its security service is sympathetic to the Taliban, making for one helluva shell game to find him.

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yeah, bringing Bin Laden into this is weird...although i guess i understand the logic.

this is a very coold thread, glad they were able to notice this. it's the kind of research that doesn't cost much but has far-reaching results. and i don't think research on Earth should come at the expense of space exploration, like Doc said they complement each other.

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