How do planets form around a star? Hubble took some amazing photos

The Hubble Space Telescope has taken photos that show planets forming around a star in a system very similar to the Solar System.

This system is located in the constellation Hydra, 196 light years from our solar system. The mass of the star TW Hydrae is about 80% of the mass of the Sun, and the radius is 111% of the radius of the Sun. In addition, planets are being born around this star right now from the protoplanetary disk of dust and gas.

Photos taken in 2016 and 2021 show changes in the shadows surrounding the 10-million-year-old star. According to scientists, it is a sign of the early development of the planets. Because the system is tilted 90° to Earth, astronomers can watch from Earth as material accumulates around the star, which scientists estimate is 0.2% the age of the Sun.

Images taken in 2016 show the shadows of the disks surrounding the young star, which scientists call the inner disk, which is tilted relative to the outer disk and blocks the star's light. According to scientists, this can be explained by the fact that the newly born planet caused a difference in the arrangement of the disks.

Photos taken five years later show that not one, but several planets are developing there.

"We hypothesize that the two shadows orbiting the star at different speeds are two invisible planets that pull dust into their orbits, creating differences in the system over just a few years. Apparently, the two planets must be quite close to each other. If one was moving much faster than the other, it would have been seen in earlier observations," said lead author John Deb, an ESA researcher at the Hubble Space Telescope at the Science Institute in Baltimore.

According to the researchers, the two planets may be at the same distance from their star as Jupiter is from the Sun, as the orbital region of the shadows suggests such a distance. The inclinations of the discs are 5-7° which is also comparable to our Solar System.

The results of the research were published in the Astrophysical Journal.