{"id":42322,"date":"2023-02-16T10:21:38","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T10:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=116180"},"modified":"2023-02-16T10:32:32","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T10:32:32","slug":"raw-ingredients-for-life-found-round-distant-stars-similar-to-our-early-solar-system","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/raw-ingredients-for-life-found-round-distant-stars-similar-to-our-early-solar-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Raw ingredients for life found round distant stars similar to our early Solar System"},"content":{"rendered":"

Discovery suggests raw ingredients for life are common in the dusty discs out of which planets are born. <\/p>

By Melissa Brobby\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 16 February 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

The materials that form the building blocks of life on Earth have been found in distant planet-forming discs that are the same size as the Solar System.<\/p>\n

Our Solar System formed from a dusty ring of cosmic material circling the Sun<\/a>, when our host star was still just a stellar newborn.<\/p>\n

This ring \u2013 known as a protoplanetary disk \u2013 contained solid materials that coalesced through gravity<\/a> over time, eventually growing into the the planets orbiting the Sun that we see today.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Planet-forming disc around star HD 34700 A. Credit: International Gemini Observatory\/NOIRLab\/NSF\/AURA\/E. Rich (Michigan University)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Studying other young stars and their protoplanetary discs enables astronomers to analyse the conditions that may have led to the formation of of our own Solar System, and perhaps even the development of life on Earth.<\/p>\n

Dr John Ilee is an astrophysicist studying star and planet formation at the University of Leeds<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, h<\/span>e and his colleagues have identified organic molecules in protoplanetary discs around young stars, which could point to the building blocks required for the development of organic life.<\/p>\n

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Credit: University of Leeds<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Where are these protoplanetary discs?<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

These discs are located between about 300 to 500 lightyears from Earth, so we are actually seeing the discs as they appeared 300 to 500 years ago.<\/p>\n

The regions in which these discs exist are some of the closest star-forming regions to our Solar System, which means we can get an excellent view of them.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>How did you identify organic molecules?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Compared to previous instruments, ALMA has hugely increased our observational capability. It combines extremely high sensitivity with a high spatial resolution.<\/p>\n

This means we can detect faint emission on small scales, which was essential for our study.<\/p>\n

We searched for the unique \u2018fingerprints\u2019 of these molecules in the ALMA data, which were very faint, but thanks to the data\u2019s exceptional quality we were able to detect their emission.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Antennas of the Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array (ALMA), on the Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes. Credit: ESO\/C. Malin (christophmalin.com)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Were these findings surprising?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

These molecules have been detected in protoplanetary discs before, but the fact that we\u2019ve been able to get such improved observations means the abundance of these molecules is much higher than previously thought.<\/p>\n

Additionally, they\u2019re located in the \u2018inner\u2019 disc regions, within about 50 astronomical units, which is approximately the same scale as our Solar System.<\/p>\n

This means we are finding significant amounts of prebiotic materials (which form the building blocks of life) on similar scales to a planetary system like our own.<\/p>\n

What conditions result in planet formation around new stars?<\/b><\/h3>\n

The findings suggest that the chemical composition of discs that appear to be forming planets is similar to the composition of our own Solar System.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, we don\u2019t know if this is required to form planets.<\/span><\/p>\n

To investigate this we\u2019d need to study the composition of <\/span>a much larger and statistically significant sample of protoplanetary discs.<\/p>\n

This is something that ALMA will be able to do in the near future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Protoplanetary disk around young star HD 163296. Credit: ALMA (ESO\/NAOJ\/NRAO)\/D. Berry (NRAO), K. \u00d6berg et al (MAPS)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Can complex organic molecules be found only in protoplanetary discs?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Complex organic molecules are found in various environments throughout space, such as the giant clouds of gas and dust that will eventually go on to form stars.<\/span><\/p>\n

Studies have suggested that molecules such as these are the \u2018raw ingredients\u2019 for building molecules that are essential components in biological chemistry on Earth \u2013 including things like sugars and the bases of ribonucleic acid (RNA).<\/span><\/p>\n

However, many of the environments where we find these complex organic molecules are pretty far removed from where we think <\/span>planets form.<\/p>\n

We wanted to understand more about where and how much of these molecules were present <\/span>in the birthplaces of planets \u2013 protoplanetary discs.<\/p>\n

Does the presence of such molecules suggest that any formed planets might develop life?<\/b><\/h3>\n

While we can\u2019t say that for certain, the take-home message is that we find these \u2018prebiotic\u2019 molecules in large abundances, and at distances from their parent star that are similar in size to our Solar System.<\/p>\n

So that suggests the raw ingredients for life are plentiful in the disc of material that forms planets.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Protoplanetary disks imaged by the Very Large Array and Atacama Large Millimetre\/Submillimetre Array. Credit: ALMA (ESO\/NAOJ\/NRAO), J. Tobin; NRAO\/AUI\/NSF, S. Dagnello<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

What does it tell us about our own Solar System?<\/b><\/h3>\n

Three of the discs in our sample are around T Tauri stars, which are younger versions of stars that are similar to our Sun.<\/p>\n

These three objects represent a young stellar evolutionary stage that may go on to form a planetary system similar to our own.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/b><\/h3>\n

We want to know how the molecules got there. Had they been formed in situ<\/i> by chemical reactions in the disc?<\/p>\n

Or have they been inherited from the earlier star-forming phase when the disc was assembled from a large cloud of gas and dust?<\/p>\n

Answering these questions would be one of our next steps.<\/p>\n

This interview originally appeared in the February 2023 issue of <\/strong><\/em>BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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