So what does a baby solar system look like? Now we know, thanks to data collected by astronomers from the University of Arizona.
The answer? Baby solar systems look a lot like our own solar system when it was relatively young.
The solar systems in question surround a young star called HD 95086 and a slightly older star, HR 8799. Both systems, which are 129 light-years from Earth, are around 10 million to 90 million years old. This is the age at which planets begin forming, including terrestrial Earth-like ones, and when the larger planets find their locations within the system.
HD 95086 has two dust belts, nearly identical to the asteroid and Kuiper belts in our solar system. Around it is a large halo of dust, seen only in young systems.
The galaxy surrounding the older star, HR8799, looks similar. There, four huge planets sit between the two belts.
So why is this discovery so important? Astronomers believe that these systems tell us a lot about how our own solar system formed, and confirms theories about the process.
"We think HD 95086 is a snapshot of what our solar system might have looked like when it was only 10 million to 20 million years old," says Kate Su, lead author of the paper.
Astronomers believe that these systems are currently in their stages of formation when certain events happened in our solar system, such as the development of Earth's moon.
The discovery of these systems also re-confirms a theory about why the space between planets is so empty in our solar system. That theory states that over time, planets' gravities kicked out debris, sending it to the far edges of the solar system (in our case, possibly the Oort cloud).
Astronomers discovered these two systems thanks to NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and ESA's Herschel Space Observatory. They took that data and plugged it into simulations to get a picture of what both solar systems look like.
Models showed a lot of dust surrounding both systems, caused by the types of collisions that happen at this stage of planet formation. Both systems also have large gaps between their belts, suggesting that other planets might exist between them.
Astronomers believe that these two systems warrant further study, particularly in the hunt for exoplanets. There's already a sure bet that more planets reside in these solar systems. That could be a job for the ESA's recently launched Gaia satellite,
"The HD 95086 system, with its young star hosting at least one planet of about five Jupiter masses along with massive asteroid and Kuiper-like debris belts, is a promising target for planet hunting," says Su. "Both systems are very similar, except the HD 95086 has more dust, which is in line with theories of planet formation and leads us to believe it is the younger of the two. By looking at other systems like these, we can piece out how our solar system came to be."
[Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech]
