The James Webb Space Telescope is allowing scientists to understand more about how planets develop in addition to assisting us in learning about the earliest galaxies in the cosmos and capturing breathtaking views of regions of our solar system. Although we are aware that protoplanetary discs, which are discs of gas and dust surrounding stars, are where planets develop, there is still much we don't understand about this process, particularly in regards to how forming planets impact the surrounding system.
In light of this, it was a thrilling moment when astronomers recently used Webb to examine an asteroid belt in another planetary system and were able to look into the dust rings surrounding the star to discover where planets were developing.
The Fomalhaut star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus, which is producing planets in a way akin to that of our solar system about 4 billion years ago, was studied using Webb. Although the planets in the process of formation are not visible, the gaps in the dusty disc allowed the astronomers to deduce their presence. They observed three elliptical discs that were 14 billion miles apart from the star.
With Hubble, astronomers could only observe the outer ring of this system; however, Webb's more potent infrared equipment allowed them to see the warm glow of the dust from the inner rings as well. That lends credence to the concept that, although not yet being seen, there are planets there.
"We definitely didn't expect the more complex structure with the second intermediate belt and then the broader asteroid belt," co-author Schuyler Wolff said. "That structure is particularly intriguing because astronomers often assume that an embedded planet is responsible for the rings' shape whenever they observe a gap and rings in a disc.
