Spitzer Space Telescope Enters Planet Race
(From the September/October 2004 issue of StarDate
magazine)
New results from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope are shedding infrared light
on the quest to understand the formation of planets, and by extension, life.
Ed Churchwell of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, used Spitzer to
discover two of the farthest and faintest planet-forming disks ever
observed. They surround newborn stars discovered in a new Spitzer image of
the dusty stellar nursery RCW 49 (above). Churchwell’s research suggests all
300 stars in the nebula may be surrounded by such disks. And Dan Watson and
William Forrest of the University of Rochester have used Spitzer to detect
icy dust particles coated with water, methanol, and carbon dioxide in
planet-forming disks surrounding young stars in the constellation Taurus.
These particles may help explain the origin of comets, which scientists
believe may have brought water and chemicals necessary for life to Earth
through collisions.
» More information about extrasolar planets
|
Contact StarDate | About StarDate | Friends of McDonald | Sign up for Sky Tips
