An Earth in the Making
Email 424 light-years away, in a double-star system known as HD 113766, the Spitzer Space Telescope has spotted what astronomers say is a huge belt of dust and debris. They know enough from studying other stars to expect that what they’re seeing is a planet in the making, as the dust grains clump together to form rocks, and the rocks collide to form mini-planets, and the mini-planets eventually coalesce into something that could be the size of Mars or larger–there’s enough material for that. Now here’s where it gets interesting: –The star is about the same type and size as our Sun. –The dust is mostly silicates and metal sulfides, materials you would find in lava on Earth. –And the belt of material, when they do the math, is probably at the right distance from the star in the middle to make liquid water possible. Carey Lisse of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory has been watching HD 113766; he and colleagues are publishing a paper in the Astrophysical Journal, and will report their findings to a meeting of the American Astronomical Society next week. The paper is HERE. They report the star is probably 10 to 16 million years old. "The timing for this system to be building an Earth is very good," says Lisse in a statement. "If the system was too young, its planet-forming disk would be full of gas, and it would be making gas-giant planets like Jupiter instead. If the system was too old, then dust aggregation or clumping would have already occurred and all the system’s rocky planets would have already formed." You can find more HERE. And you can click HERE for a large version of the artist’s conception by Tim Pyle and Dr. Lisse. Is this indeed another Earth in the making? We’ll update you in a few eons.
(Artist’s conception courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/JHUAPL.)
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There’s giving birth…then there is giving birth!
Posted by: JUJU | October 3, 2007, 2:29 pm 2:29 pm
Absolutely fascinating to think that we can see a planet in its formative stages! Many thanks for the links, Ned, ezpecially the one with the breathtaking artists’ conception. We’ll be expecting updates every few millennia or so.
Posted by: chuck | October 3, 2007, 2:54 pm 2:54 pm
Wait a sec….
The comment was – “If the system was too young, its planet-forming disk would be full of gas, and it would be making gas-giant planets like Jupiter instead. If the system was too old, then dust aggregation or clumping would have already occurred and all the system’s rocky planets would have already formed.”
It must’ve been “too young” at one point. So, where are the gas giants?
And if the “system was too old…” is a comment of pure conjecture and/or non-science observation …
I suppose the funding has to be justified by even non-comments such as offered by C. Lisse.
I guess I’m still mourning Pluto…
Posted by: J A Gordon-Elliott | October 3, 2007, 4:06 pm 4:06 pm
Note from Ned–
J.A., if I understand correctly from the paper, the debris ring would not have been this far on the way to forming planets when the star system was “too young.” So either there are no gas giants there, or researchers here haven’t spotted them.
And if earth-like planets had already formed…current technology doesn’t allow us to find them from here.
The subject of the paper by Lisse et al is the debris disk that appears capable of forming a “terrestrial planet.” To my knowledge, that hasn’t been seen before.
Posted by: Ned Potter | October 3, 2007, 4:56 pm 4:56 pm
Now Ned, THIS is a happy story. We get some creation instead of galactic collisions, solar swelling and subsequent destruction of the Earth, and the end of the Mayan calander. Now, I can sleep at night knowing that in a few billion years, we’ll have a place to lay our heads. Thanks Ned.
Posted by: Lawrence | October 3, 2007, 5:12 pm 5:12 pm
Laughing. Thank you, Lawrence. Happy to oblige.
But wait a minute–the Mayan calendar is ending? I’ll get on the case right away.
(Regular visitors to this blog will know what we’re talking about.)
–Ned
Posted by: Ned Potter | October 3, 2007, 6:16 pm 6:16 pm
I love it
Posted by: James | October 3, 2007, 6:29 pm 6:29 pm
If the myan calander is ending and the codes in the bible end around the same year (2019) then the new earth in formation will take our place in this universe and we will be extinct.
Posted by: Reader | October 3, 2007, 6:32 pm 6:32 pm
A debris field that is forming like an EARTH..I might hinder the thought by some other institution on the side of peculiar incident..as is the fact right at this moment..the EARTH is unique..any other thought lives in the imagination and the rambling TONE about space travel..this is not part of a planet like-EARTH..its all about Space Travel and space travel has no unique feature since man CAN NOT LIVE in OUTER SPACE/he only becomes part of some clutter even less unique than a debris field..it seems possible that the EARTH was formed just as proposed..but then there was also an added Big bang where sciece seems to wander down some dark corridor full of childish…”finger painting”..each story that follows space involved in mans life gets more and more absurd..EARTH…or the final frontier..you be the judge.
Posted by: Mark S. M. | October 3, 2007, 6:32 pm 6:32 pm
This is absolutely awesome. Whether or not it truly is an Earth-like planet doesn’t matter to me. Are these images that the scientists are viewing being viewed in the normal light spectrum? If so, then it’s kinda cool to think that we are looking 424 years into the past. I’d like to see some images of what was actually seen, and see how they compare to the artists’ rendition.
Posted by: David Howell | October 3, 2007, 7:09 pm 7:09 pm
In response to “Reader” I think you should know that Earth will eventually create a natrual disaster that will destroy humanity, like the ice age. Chances are the only way humans will survive forever is by living in space, scientists figured that out in the ’60s. So you may think what you want, but if I had to choose, the final frontier is the safest choice.
Posted by: Unanimous | October 3, 2007, 11:01 pm 11:01 pm
David -
I can’t imagine they’re looking at it in any sort of direct visualization of the debris cloud. We can take pictures of galaxies and nebulas that are many lightyears across, but not something as small as a solar system.
However, if you think that looking in on something that’s 424 years in the past, you need to bust out a star map and try to find Andromeda (it’s visible this time of the year). It’s 2.5 MILLION lightyears away, AND you can see it without a telescope or binoculars.
Posted by: Nick | October 3, 2007, 11:41 pm 11:41 pm
Why yes Ned, the Mayan Calender ends in December of 2012. Only 5 years left. Don’t know what will happen, but it sounds scary. So this story is uplifting.
Posted by: Lawrence | October 4, 2007, 9:13 am 9:13 am
I like this article very much because it inspire the mind to imagine the posibility of life on another planet. Even though it would take billions of years to actually take form, this planet could be a place to go and escape our own sun, which will roast earth in its fiery plasma in the future.
Posted by: Jones | October 4, 2007, 12:30 pm 12:30 pm
I might be a kid, but to my understanding, it will take billions of years to form into an actual planet. That could pose a problem for us as we are looking for another home due to the threat of the sun.
Posted by: Jones | October 4, 2007, 12:34 pm 12:34 pm
To all: Can the astronomers be sure that the debris cloud is forming? Or is it a planet that’s been destroyed by some external agent, and is dispersing.
Since most seem to agree that, sooner or later, this planet will suffer some sort of cataclysm, it would behoove us to take better care of our little nest, and concomitantly, be a little more assiduous in our researches and efforts to find us another place to live, even if it’s just off-planet.
I have to cop to being an avid science fiction reader for many, many years. Those guys have more “right” to their credit, than the scientific community, which is only now beginning to catch up.
Posted by: Andy | October 4, 2007, 1:13 pm 1:13 pm
Andy’s absolutely right. After all, just look what happened to Krypton: it exploded before that civilization mastered spaceflight and extraplanetary exploration.
Posted by: chuck | October 4, 2007, 1:56 pm 1:56 pm
Well dagum. Chuck, you and Andy have ruined a good story. Now, only do we have what I’ve mentioned earlier to worry about, we’ve got an exploding Earth to worry about. The respite from worry was shortlived, but welcomed. I’ll start work on a crystal spaceship so we can send an infant into space to land on some other planet, only to realize that their other colored sun gives him special powers. Do you think quartz will do?
Posted by: Lawrence | October 4, 2007, 2:26 pm 2:26 pm
Lawrence: There’s a science fiction story you should read. I think the author is Curt Vonnegut. The title is probably prohibited here, but it’s about a society that sends a spaceship into the void that carries a big load of human sperm, in hopes that it will impregnate some being that will father a new human civilization.
You may be able to find it if you search for Vonnegut’s short stories.
Well, it’s a thought.
Posted by: Andy | October 4, 2007, 3:47 pm 3:47 pm
That sounds odd. I just may look it up. Thanks.
Posted by: Lawrence | October 4, 2007, 3:51 pm 3:51 pm
Just wanted to say its really awesome to think this is happening in my life time. I’m wondering how long for something like this to come full circle?
Posted by: Charles | October 4, 2007, 8:27 pm 8:27 pm
thanks for the information!
Posted by: kc | July 2, 2008, 6:55 am 6:55 am