Astronomers have imaged planetary belts of 74 planetary systems as part of resolved ALMA and SMA observations in nearby star (reason) investigations (reason).
The gallery contains 74 images of different star systems with exoconterry belts taken at the Sub-Millimeter Array (SMA) and Atacama's Large Millimeter/Sub-Millimeter (ALMA) Wireless Telescope Facility. Image credit: Luca Matrà.
To find evidence of comets outside our solar system, astronomers have turned to two facilities that detect specific bands of radio waves: sub-millimeter arrays (SMAs) and large millimeters/sub-millimeters in Atacama Meter array (ALMA).
Due to the dust and rock size of these belts, this type of light is especially good for finding and imaging these structures.
The stars in this study ranged from very young to middle-aged ages like our Sun.
“The joint programme between SMA and Alma Dubbed reasons presents a significant milestone in the Exometallibelt study, as its images and subsequent analysis reveal where the pebbles and exomets are located. is”
“In these regions, it's very cold (minus 250 to minus celsius), so most compounds, including water, are frozen like ice from these exomets.”
“Exocomet is a rock and ice rock of at least 1 kilometre in size, and it collides together within these belts, and here produces pebbles that are observed in an array of telescope Alma and SMA,” says Dr. Matra. said.
“The Exometallibelt is located in at least 20% of our planetary systems, including our solar system.”
“The Kuiper Belt is an example of the comet belt of our own solar system.”
“Far beyond Pluto's orbit, some scientists believe the Kuiper belt is the source of the internal solar system where Earth was located, delivered through comets billions of years ago.”
The new image shows a significant diversity of structures within the belt. Some are narrow rings, while others are wider and may be classified as discs rather than belts.
Additionally, some of the 74 Exocomet systems have multiple rings or discs, some of which are eccentric. In other words, it's more like an elliptical shape, not a circular orbit.
This provides evidence that there are still undetectable planets or possibly moons, and that their gravity affects the distribution of pebble in these systems.
“The arrays like Alma and SMA used in this work are extraordinary tools that continue to give us incredible new insights into the universe and how it works,” says Harvard & Smithsonian Astrophysics. said Dr. David Wilner, an astrophysicist at the Center for Science.
“The research requires extensive community effort and has incredible legacy value with multiple potential pathways for future research.”
“The dataset of belt and planetary systems properties enables research into the birth and evolution of these belts, as well as the study of tracking observations across next-generation wavelength ranges from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webspace Telescope. “The huge telescope and future plans for Alma are plans to zoom further into the details of these belts.”
a paper The explanation of the results was published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
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L. Matra et al. 2025. Reasons for the nearby stars Alma and SMA: population resolved 74 planetary belts at millimeter wavelengths. A&A 693, A151; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202451397
Source: www.sci.news
