In an exceptionally distant solar system, astronomers made a unprecedented discovery. They indicated the existence of potential "sister" planets that share the same celestial orbit.
By applying the advanced Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope, scientists detected a puzzling cloud of debris traveling exactly the same orbital path as a exoplanet. This exoplanet orbits a star located approximately 400 light years away.
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Such an extraordinary discovery aroused speculation among researchers. They postulate that the cloud could be the remnant of a previously destroyed planet or a potential world still in the process of forming.
In the farthest reaches of our solar system resides an intriguing phenomenon known as "Trojans". They consist of objects that share a planet's orbit, and in our case, Jupiter is host to thousands of these celestial companions.
Researchers at the Center for Astrobiology in Madrid, Spain, and the Science Office of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), in Chile, have announced a pioneering discovery.
They reported finding strong evidence of Trojan formation in a distant planetary system. The news was shared with Newsweek by Olga Balsalobre-Ruza, a student, and Itziar de Gregorio-Monsalvo, head of ESO Chile, both co-authors of the article.
The researchers, using data from the ALMA telescope, made an interesting discovery. They found a cloud of debris that shares the same orbit as a planetgiant in formation, known as PDS 70b. The analysis indicates that this dust cloud could be in the process of forming or already contain a young Trojan exoplanet.
(Image: ESO/DIGITIZED SKY SURVEY 2/DAVIDE DE MARTIN/Playback)
The cloud is believed to have a mass twice that of Earth's Moon and is located approximately 14 times the distance between PDS 70b and the Sun of Earth.
Although such a discovery is not considered a definitive "Trojan Horse", it represents the closest evidence that astronomers have been able to obtain to date.
The researchers said this is the first time they have investigated the presence of Trojans in systems that accompany young planets. In this specific case, the only two confirmed young planets are located in the PDS 70 system, namely PDS 70b and PDS 70c.
This discovery suggests that possible Trojans may be forming right now, which represents a significant milestone for the astronomy and opens up new opportunities for studying these planetary systems in formation.
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