Ideas, Inventions And Innovations
Detailing the Formation of Distant Solar Systems with NASA's Webb Telescope
We live in a mature solar system—eight planets and several dwarf planets (like Pluto) have formed, the latter within the rock- and debris-filled region known as the Kuiper Belt. If we could turn back time, what would we see as our solar system formed? While we can’t answer this question directly, researchers can study other systems that are actively forming—along with the mix of gas and dust that encircles their still-forming stars—to learn about this process.
Still-forming solar systems, known as planet-forming disks, come in a variety of shapes and sizes—and some show that bodies like forming planets may be clearing paths as they orbit the central stars. A research team led by Thomas Henning of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, will survey more than 50 targets, including TW Hydrae (left), HD 135344B (center), and 2MASS J16281370 (right) using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. The observatory's capabilities in infrared light and its high-resolution data will allow them to very precisely model which elements and molecules are present, adding to our understanding of the makeup of these planet-forming disks.