{"id":797298,"date":"2025-07-16T11:11:05","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T16:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=797298"},"modified":"2025-07-16T11:11:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T16:11:05","slug":"witnessing-a-solar-systems-dawn-for-the-1st-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=797298","title":{"rendered":"Witnessing a solar system\u2019s dawn, for the 1st time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"BREAKING! Astronomers Witness The Dawn Of A New Solar System. With Melissa McClure\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z1zaZEtO854?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/><em>Astronomers have, for the first time, caught the moment when planets began to form around a distant star. Using the ALMA telescope in Chile  and the James Webb Space Telescope, they saw the creation of the first specks of planet-forming material in this solar system\u2019s dawn, as hot minerals just beginning to solidify. It\u2019s the first time we\u2019ve seen a planetary system at such an early stage in its formation. It opens a window to the past of our own Earth and solar system. Join Deborah Byrd live for more about this discovery and its implications. Video drops at 12:15 CDT (17:15 UTC). Watch here or on YouTube.<\/em> <\/p>\n<p>The European Southern Observatory published this article on July 16, 2025. Edits by EarthSky.<\/p>\n<h3>1st witness of a solar system\u2019s dawn<\/h3>\n<p>Astronomers studying a distant star have now observed the first true spark of planet formation for the first time. The star is HOPS-315, a \u201cproto\u201d or baby star some 1,300 light-years from Earth. It\u2019s a sunlike star, comparable to our sun when it was forming. And here\u2019s what the scientists say they saw:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u2026 the creation of the first specks of planet-forming material: hot minerals just beginning to solidify. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>So they are witnessing a new solar system, at the moment its planets are coming into being!<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_515958\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-515958\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-515958\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This is HOPS-315, a baby star where astronomers have observed evidence for the earliest stages of planet formation. These observations show that in this solar system\u2019s dawn, hot minerals are beginning to solidify. In orange we see the distribution of carbon monoxide, blowing away from the star in a butterfly-shaped wind. In blue we see a narrow jet of silicon monoxide, also beaming away from the star. The observations indicate that, in addition to these features, there is also a disk of gaseous silicon monoxide around the star that is condensing into solid silicates, the first stages of planetary formation. Image via ALMA(ESO\/ NAOJ\/ NRAO)\/M. McClure et al.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>What the researchers said<\/h3>\n<p>Melissa McClure is a professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands. She\u2019s lead author of the new study. She said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>For the first time, we have identified the earliest moment when planet formation is initiated \u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Co-author Merel van \u2018t Hoff, a professor at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, compared the findings to:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u2026 a picture of the baby solar system \u2026 we\u2019re seeing a system that looks like what our solar system looked like, when it was just beginning to form.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The new study was published July 16, 2025, in the peer-reviewed journal <em>Nature<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h3>They detected the seeds of planet formation<\/h3>\n<p>Astronomers often see disks of gas and dust known as \u201cprotoplanetary disks\u201d around newly forming stars. The disks are the birthplaces of new planets. While astronomers have previously seen young disks that contain newborn, massive, Jupiter-like planets, McClure said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We\u2019ve always known that the first solid parts of planets, or \u2018planetesimals,\u2019 must form further back in time, at earlier stages.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Previously, astronomers found physical evidence of this idea, trapped within ancient meteorites, or rocks from space. Some meteorites contain solid material that apparently condensed first near Earth\u2019s present location around the sun. Astronomers have age-dated these primordial rocks to determine when the clock started on our solar system\u2019s formation. <\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s in these meteorites? They are packed full of crystalline minerals that contain silicon monoxide (SiO). This chemical compound can condense at the extremely high temperatures present in young planetary disks. <\/p>\n<p>Over time, these newly condensed solids bind together, sowing the seeds for planet formation as they gain both size and mass. The first kilometer-sized planetesimals in the solar system, which grew to become planets such as Earth or Jupiter\u2019s core, formed just after the condensation of these crystalline minerals.<\/p>\n<p>Now astronomers have found evidence of these hot minerals beginning to condense in the disk around HOPS-315. Their results show that SiO is present around the baby star in its gaseous state, as well as within these crystalline minerals, suggesting it is only just beginning to solidify. Co-author Edwin Bergin, a professor at the University of Michigan, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>This process has never been seen before in a protoplanetary disk, or anywhere outside our solar system.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_515932\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-515932\" style=\"width: 517px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/07\/eso2512d.jpeg\" alt=\"Star chart showing the constellation Orion with stars in black on white and a small red circle near the Belt.\" width=\"517\" height=\"640\" class=\"size-full wp-image-515932\" srcset=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/07\/eso2512d.jpeg 517w, https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/07\/eso2512d-242x300.jpeg 242w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 517px) 100vw, 517px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-515932\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">HOPS-315 is located in our sky in the direction of the familiar constellation Orion the Hunter. The location of the star itself is marked with a red circle. Image via IAU\/ Sky &amp; Telescope\/ ESO.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Solar system\u2019s dawn via Webb and ALMA<\/h3>\n<p>These minerals were first identified around HOPS-315 using the James Webb Space Telescope, a joint project of the U.S., European and Canadian space agencies. To find out where exactly the signals were coming from, the team observed the system with the Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array (ALMA), which is operated by the European Southern Observatory, together with international partners, in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert.<\/p>\n<p>With these data, the team determined that the chemical signals were coming from a small region of the disk around the star, equivalent to the orbit of the asteroid belt around the sun. Co-author Logan Francis, a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University, said,<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We\u2019re really seeing these minerals at the same location in this extrasolar system as where we see them in asteroids in the solar system.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Because of this, the disk of HOPS-315 provides a wonderful analog for studying our own cosmic history. As van \u2018t Hoff said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u2026 This system is one of the best that we know to actually probe some of the processes that happened in our solar system.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It also provides astronomers with a new opportunity to study early planet formation, by standing in as a substitute for newborn solar systems across the galaxy.<\/p>\n<p>ESO astronomer and European ALMA Programme Manager Elizabeth Humphreys, who did not take part in the study, contributed this comment to ESO\u2019s press materials: <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I was really impressed by this study, which reveals a very early stage of planet formation. It suggests that HOPS-315 can be used to understand how our own solar system formed. This result highlights the combined strength of JWST and ALMA for exploring protoplanetary disks.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_515960\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-515960\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2025\/07\/HOPS-315-composite-e1752591382920.jpg\" alt=\"Left: material streaming from a centrol point. Right: 2 insets with little rocky bits floating in space.\" width=\"800\" height=\"480\" class=\"size-full wp-image-515960\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-515960\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">These images illustrate how hot gas condenses into solid minerals around the baby star HOPS-315. The image to the left was taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner. Two insets show artist\u2019s impressions of molecules of silicon monoxide condensing into solid silicates. Image via ESO\/ L. Cal\u00e7ada\/ ALMA(ESO\/NAOJ\/NRAO)\/ M. McClure et al.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Bottom line: Astronomers have witnessed a solar system\u2019s dawn. They see the 1st specks of planet-forming material: hot minerals just beginning to solidify.<\/p>\n<p>Source: Refractory solid condensation detected in an embedded protoplanetary disk<\/p>\n<p>Via ESO<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"cp-load-after-post\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"post-author\">\n<h4>Deborah Byrd<\/h4>\n<p>                    View Articles\n                  <\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post-tags\">\n<h6 data-udy-fe=\"text_7c58270d\">About the Author:<\/h6>\n<p>Our Editor-in-Chief Deborah Byrd works to keep all the astronomy balls in the air between EarthSky&#8217;s website, YouTube page and social media platforms. She&#8217;s the primary editor of our popular daily newsletter and a frequent host of EarthSky livestreams. Deborah created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. &#8220;Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers,&#8221; she says.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/space\/solar-systems-dawn-hops-315-silicon-monoxide\/?rand=772280\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Astronomers have, for the first time, caught the moment when planets began to form around a distant star. Using the ALMA telescope in Chile and the James Webb Space Telescope,&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":797299,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-797298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-sky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=797298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/797299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=797298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=797298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=797298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}