The image above shows the young star Elias 2-27 exhibiting unusual spiral arms in its protoplanetary disk, the first time such a structure has been spotted around a newborn star.

(B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF); ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO))

At a Glance

For the first time, researchers have noticed spiral arms like those of the Milky Way galaxy surrounding a newborn star.The scientists believe it may explain the mystery behind planets forming far away from their parent stars.

While observing the young star Elias 2-27, researchers noticed spiral arms like those of the Milky Way galaxy surrounding it, the first time such a structure has been seen around a newborn star. The scientists believe it may explain the mystery behind planets forming far away from their parent stars.

Spotted at the ALMA observatory in Chile, where planet formation occurs, Phys.org reports. This is important for planet formation, as structures like these could either indicate a newly-formed planet or create the necessary conditions for a planet to form.

and form protoplanetary disks, according to Space.com. Usually, astronomers detect spiral arms around stars during the later stages of the disks, such as when the planets had already formed, and in disks that were too hazy to determine the structure. In this instance, the spiral arms were forming in the debris. This is the first time researchers have detected such spiral arms around a young star, caused by a pile-up of density waves.

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“These results are the first detection of spiral density waves in the reservoir of gas and dust that surrounds a newborn star," study lead author Laura Pérez told Space.com. "Density waves are what cause the spiral arms observed in spiral galaxies, and it is remarkable that we observe the same phenomena but in physical scales related to planet formation, [which are] much, much smaller than galaxy scales."

The formation of the spiral arms involves faster-moving pieces of matter getting caught behind theslower-moving materials, Space.com also reports. This type of congestion leads to alternating regions of greater and lesser density. Because the disks spin, previous research suggests that the waves of density curve takes the shape of spiral arms.

The infrared image on the left shows the Rho Ophiuchi star formation region at a distance of 450 light years. The image on the right shows thermal dust emission from the protoplanetary disk surrounding the young star Elias 2-27.

( NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE and B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF); ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); and L. Perez (MPlfR))

According to Phys.org, when bodies reach a size of about one meter, the surrounding gas of the disk will make them migrate inwards towards the star during a span of 1000 years or less. Eventually, it reaches a size where gas drag becomes a negligible influence.

The spiral arms may be concentrating material that goes on to form planets far from the star, Perez told Space.com. Because Elias 2-27’s spiral arms are quite far from their star is evidence ”for the first time of a different process than the standard picture of planet formation.”

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"The standard theory of planet formation is called 'core accretion,' where a planet core grows out of smaller particles and planetesimals," she added. "Once the core is large enough, it quickly accretes gas from the disk and forms a planet with an atmosphere — think of Jupiter, with its massive inner core and then its massive atmosphere. However, this standard picture fails at large distances from the star. There are not enough dust particles and gas for core accretion to proceed."

Elias 2-27 is located about 450 light years away from Earth and is at least 1 million years old. Its mass is about half that of the sun and it has an unusually large protoplanetary disk up to about one-seventh of the sun’s mass.

Prior research suggested that instabilities within the protoplanetary disks could create planets far away from stars, "at the locations where core accretion fails," Pérez said, but researchers were uncertain about the mechanisms behind such planets' formation. "Our detection of spiral density waves in Elias 2-27 is the first time we have any evidence of a different process than core accretion, and these data may help explain the puzzling observations of extrasolar planets at similar faraway locations."

"Finally, we see the disks around young stars in all their beauty and diversity – and now this includes seeing spiral structures,” coauthor Thomas Henning told Phys.org. “These observations will be a great help in understanding the formation of planets.”

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