The discovery of an exoplanet is most often made on the basis of the analysis of the light of the parent star, the transit method, or the method of radial velocities. Direct observation of a planet is usually complicated by the fact that it is lost in the powerful stream of light from the parent luminary. However, new generation radio interferometers (as well as the development of methods for obtaining images in the near-infrared range) make it possible to obtain images of protoplanetary disks and search for structures in them that indicate the presence of exoplanets. Slots and rings represent the most interesting objects for astronomers in this sense.
In a new study, astronomers Sean Andrews and David Wilner of the Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysical Center, USA, used the ALMA radio observatory to image the dust surrounding the young star Elias 24 with a resolution of 28 astronomical units (1 AU).. is equal to the distance from the Earth to the Sun, or about 150 million kilometers). Astronomers have found signs of gaps and rings in the disk and, assuming that these structures are formed as a result of the gravitational influence of an exoplanet orbiting a star, they built a model of the system in which evolution took place, expressed in the change in the planet's mass, its position and the distribution of dust density in the disk. … The best model developed by the team explains the observational data quite well:After about 44 thousand years, the planet acquires a mass of about 70 percent of the mass of Jupiter and is located at a distance of 61.7 AU. from the star.
These results support the suggestion that both gaps and rings are common in young protoplanetary disks and indicate the presence of planets in the system, the authors note.
The research is published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
