Astronomers utilizing ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (VLT) have captured stunning images of a highly structured planetary formation disc surrounding the star Rik 113.
This image, captured with a very large telescope at ESO in Chile, illustrates the RIK113 system. Image credits: ESO/Ginski et al.
RIK 113 is located approximately 431 light-years away in the constellation Scorpio.
Also referred to as 2MASSJ16120668-3010270, this star hosts a structured protoplanetary disc.
“In a study published last year, the intricate nature of this protoplanetary disc was first unveiled by the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA),” remarked Galway astronomer Christian Ginsky and colleagues.
“These findings indicated the presence of gaps, suggestive of planet-like objects within them.”
“This prompted the team to conduct follow-up observations using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT).”
Employing VLT’s Sphere Instrument, Dr. Ginski and co-authors obtained a new image of the system, revealing an appealing spiral feature in the inner ring.
“Our team is currently examining nearly 100 planet-forming discs around nearby stars, and these images are exceptional,” Dr. Ginsky noted.
“It is rare to find a system exhibiting both rings and spiral arms. This aligns almost perfectly with predictions regarding how planets form from the parent disk, according to theoretical models.”
“Such detections bring us a step closer to comprehending how planets, in general, formed and the origins of our solar system in the far past.”
A detailed analysis of the VLT/Sphere data hinted at two potential signals, as well as two possible signals from a protoplanet orbiting Rik 113, close to the original detection by ALMA.
At this stage, these signals serve more as proposals than definitive confirmations.
Nonetheless, these results are highly promising for future explorations, with both ALMA and VLT studies indicating the presence of at least one planet.
“We identified an inner disc (up to 40 AU) with two spiral arms, which are separated by a gap from the outer ring extending to 115 AU,” the astronomer stated.
“Comparing with unique and hydrodynamic models from the literature, we found that these structures are consistent with the existence of embedded gas giants, with masses ranging from 0.1 to 5 Jupiter masses depending on the model and its underlying assumptions.”
“The RIK 113 system is one of the few that displays this remarkable form of spiral arms amidst the scattered gaps of light and the ring,” they added.
“We hypothesize that this could be linked to higher disk viscosity compared to other systems, such as PDS 70.”
“If a planet in the disk is confirmed, RIK 113 will become a focal point for studying planetary disk interactions.”
Study published online in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
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C. Ginsky et al. 2025. Disk evolution studies with imaging of nearby young stars (Destinys): 2MassJ16120668-3010270 Evidence of planetary disk interaction in the system. A&A in press; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202451647
Source: www.sci.news
