![]() ![]() They detected carbon monoxide (both 12CO and its isotopologue 13CO) and sulfur monoxide (SO), which had previously been detected and were thought to be associated with protoplanets in other disks.īut for the first time, the astronomers also detected silicon monosulfide (SiS). Law ad his colleagues focused on the HD 169142 system because they believed that the presence of the giant protoplanet was likely to be accompanied by detectable chemical signatures, and they were right. “We now have confirmation that we can use chemical signatures to figure out what kinds of planets there might be forming in the disks around young stars.”ĭr. Charles Law, an astronomer at the Harvard & Smithsonian’s Center for Astrophysics. “When we looked at HD 169142 and its disk at submillimeter wavelengths, we identified several compelling chemical signatures of this recently-confirmed gas giant protoplanet,” said Dr. Otherwise known as PDS 514 and TIC 51077087, it hosts at least one protoplanet: HD 169142b. The star is of significant interest to astronomers due to the presence of its large, dust- and gas-rich circumstellar disk that is viewed nearly face-on. HD 169142 is a young star located 375 light-years away in the constellation of Sagittarius. ![]() Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / M. This artist’s conception shows the Jupiter-like protoplanet HD 169142b interacting with and heating nearby molecular gas, driving outflows seen in several emission lines, including those from shock-tracing molecules like SO and SiS, and the commonly seen 12CO and 13CO. ![]()
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