This artist's impression shows how the planet inside the disc of Beta Pictoris may appear. Although only 12 million years old, Beta Pictoris is 75 percent more massive than the sun. [ESO/L. Calcada]
Posted on 06/10/2010 7:48:06 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The discovery of a baby gas giant orbiting a young star suggest planets can form faster than previously thought... scientists have determined that a suspected bulge in the dusky disk surrounding the nearby star Beta Pictoris contains a giant gas planet, one that formed incredibly fast given the relative youth of its parent star. Located about 63 light-years from Earth, Beta Pictoris has been around for only about 12 million years, compared to our sun's 4.5 billion years. The star, which is about 75 percent more massive than the sun, sports a bright orbiting cloud of dust and gas. It was the first debris disk to be imaged around another star... Because it is relatively close to its parent star -- roughly about where Saturn orbits in our solar system -- astronomers believe the object is a home-grown planet, not a captured brown dwarf star or another type of object captured from a sibling star. The planet, christened Beta Pictoris b, has about nine times the mass of Jupiter and is the right size to explain the warp seen earlier in star's dust disk... Follow-up studies are planned to refine the planet's orbit, to look for sibling planets and to attempt to tease out information about the planet's atmosphere. Astronomers believe Beta Pictoris b is finished growing, with little gas left in the star's disk for planet-forming. Rocky body planets, like Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, however, may still be works in progress.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.discovery.com ...
This artist's impression shows how the planet inside the disc of Beta Pictoris may appear. Although only 12 million years old, Beta Pictoris is 75 percent more massive than the sun. [ESO/L. Calcada]
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There they go talking about Elena the Hut again. Show some respect!
It all began with cigarettes.
Then it moved on to that loco weed and to loose women.
Like in one day’s time...
We’re talkin’ some big diapers...
You say that like it’s a bad thing. ;’)
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