Photo # 1 (Feb 2010)
PLANETARY SYSTEMS NOW FORMING IN ORION
When I investigate and when I discover that the forces of
the heavens and the planets are within ourselves, then truly I seem to be
living among the gods.”
- Leon Battista Alberti
Credit: NASA, ESA, M.
Robberto (STScI/ESA), the HST Orion Treasury
Project Team, & L. Ricci (ESO)
How do planets form?
To help find out, the Hubble
Space Telescope was tasked to take a detailed look at one of the more
interesting of all astronomical nebulae, the Great Nebula in Orion.
The Orion nebula,
visible with the unaided
eye near the belt
in the constellation
of Orion, is an immense nearby starbirth region
and probably the most famous of all astronomical nebulas. Insets to the above mosaic
show numerous
proplyds, many of which are stellar nurseries likely harboring planetary systems in
formation. Some proplyds glow as close disks surrounding bright stars light up,
while other proplyds contain
disks further from their host star, contain cooler dust, and hence
appear as dark silhouettes
against brighter gas. Studying this dust, in particular, is giving insight for
how planets are forming. Many proplyd images also show arcs that are shock waves - fronts
where fast moving material encounters slow moving gas. The Orion Nebula lies about
1,500 light
years distant and is located in the same spiral arm of our Galaxy as our Sun.
We
are beginning to identify planets around various stars. It is highly
likely that there is life on some of the billions of other planets in
the universe.
And where do you think humanity would place among the living beings in the universe?
How will they measure us and value us?
Will we be seen as assets or liabilities in the cosmic community?
- Daniel Benor, MD
