Discovery of multiple ring-like gaps in a protoplanetary disk
Wednesday, June 17, 2015 - 06:20
in Astronomy & Space
The Strategic Exploration of Exoplanets and Disks (SEEDS) team of astronomers, led by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), has found a close-in ring-like gap in the protoplanetary disk of gas and dust around the nearby sun-like young star, TW Hydrae (TW Hya). New Subaru Telescope images of the gap, including an earlier ring-like gap found by Hubble Space Telescope, suggest that ongoing planet formation is occurring in the disk, and provides a good picture of how the early formation of our own solar system might have looked.