The Birth of a Planet
February 25th 2011 13:17
Category: Stars
This image chart shows the location of the young star T Cha within the constellation of Chamaeleon.The map also shows most of the stars visible to the unaided eye under good conditions and the star itself is marked as a circle
Perhaps we are seeing the birth of distant planet around a young 7 million year old star located some 350 light-years from Earth.
The research work carried out in astronomy has seen immense benefits through the use of the Very Large Telescope ( VLT).
ESO Very Large Telescope located in Argentina. The telescope or should I say telescopes produce images at very high resolution. The ESO V.L.T. is located on the high mountains in the Atacama Desert.
There are 4 telescopes with large diameter mirrors, each separate telescope can be combined as one single unit capable of looking at the very edge of the universe.
A much larger 42-metre telescope is planned to be operational in 2018.
The 42-metre European Extremely Large Telescope. The ELT Will be built some 30 Kilometers form the VLT.
The telescope will be able to have images clearer than the Hubbble telescope. The new ELT is currently being constructed on isolated mountain at 3060 metres altitude in the central part of Chile's Atacama Desert.
A team of international astronomers carried out a series of observations using the Very Large Telescope.
The observation were carried on a young star in the constellation Chamaeleon what they found was very interesting they have detected a smaller companion orbiting around the young star.
The star is named T Chamaeleontis an abbreviated name is T Cha. This star is too faint to see with the naked eye, but is easily seen with a small telescope.
The infant star T Cha within the constellation of Chamaeleon.
The companion is believed to be a dust-shrouded brown dwarf, or perhaps a planet that appears to be carving out a large gap in the stellar disk.
This discovery is a first: Although planets have been spotted before in more mature disks, this is the first detection of a planet-sized object in the material or the leftovers from a young star. Planets form from material around young stars, perhaps we are “peering” at the formation of a new planet.
Image Credit: ESO, IAU and Sky & Telescope
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Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
Comment by CarlCan
Astroearth
Camera Sense
Hi S.L.
Thank you for the comment….
We may not be alone after all....
The likelihood of other planets like our own is increasing with each new discovery.
Comment by James Rickard
unlucky_ fishermen.com
Angling Fish
Check this out...