Telescope spots potential iron rings in a distant planet forming disk

The Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) has analyzed the planet forming disk around HD 144432, a young star around 500 light years distant from Earth. Interestingly, the ground based telescope identified a three ring structure within the region where planets are in the process of forming around the young star.

The spaces between these rings are filled with dust, gas, and elements that function as the fundamental building blocks for planets. The observations, spearheaded by the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, revealed that the first ring lies within Mercury's orbit, the second one follows Mars's trajectory, and the third closely aligns with Jupiter's orbit.

According to the official release, HD 144432 represents the first instance of a complex ring system of this nature located so close to its young host star. “When studying the dust distribution in the disk’s innermost region, we detected for the first time a complex structure in which dust piles up in three concentric rings in such an environment,” said Roy van Boekel, a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) in Heidelberg, Germany.

“That region corresponds to the zone where the rocky planets formed in the Solar System,“ added van Boekel, who is the co author of this new study. This dust rich zone may eventually pave the way for the development of rocky planets such as Earth. Astronomers believe that the masses of possible planets developing within these gaps are equivalent to those of the gas giant Jupiter.

Analyzing the dust composition around the disk The researchers detected various silicates and minerals in the dust composition similar to those found in Earth's crust and mantle. Furthermore, the team speculates on the occurrence of metallic iron, which, if confirmed, would be the first detection of such a component in a planet forming disk.

“Astronomers have thus far explained the observations of dusty disks with a mixture of carbon and silicate dust, materials that we see almost everywhere in the Universe,” van Boekel added. From a chemical standpoint, the team suggests that an iron and silicate combination is more likely to be present in the hot inner regions of the disk.

Moreover, the dust observed surrounding this young star may exhibit temperatures ranging from as high as 1800 Kelvin (roughly 1500 degrees Celsius) at the inner edge to a more moderate 300 Kelvin (about 25 degrees Celsius) in the outer realms. Under such extreme temperatures, the survival of carbon grains would be challenging.

The team suggests that dust rich in iron and lacking in carbon would align well with the conditions observed in the Solar System. Both Mercury and Earth are characterized by high iron content, with Earth having comparatively minimal carbon. “We think that the HD 144432 disk may be very similar to the early Solar System that provided lots of iron to the rocky planets we know today.

Our study may pose as another example showing that the composition of our Solar System may be quite typical,” concluded van Boekel in an The findings were reported in the journal.