Die kostbaren Ringe des Weltraums
Nicht alle Ringe werden in Fantasiewelten geschmiedet, mein Schatz! Für Astronom*innen gilt: Man findet sie im Weltraum. Die Ringe im heutigen Bild der Woche sind Trümmerscheiben: Überreste der Planetenentstehung um andere Sterne.
Auch unser Sonnensystem hat eine solchen Trümmerscheibe, die Kuipergürtel genannt wird. Zahlreiche Asteroiden und Kometen kreisen darin jenseits der Neptunbahn um die Sonne. Man geht davon aus, dass der Einfluss großer Planeten wie Neptun verhindert hat, dass sich Staub und kieselsteingroße Körper in dieser Region zu größeren Objekten zusammengeballt haben. Daher können Trümmerscheiben als Überreste der Planetenentstehung angesehen werden, und die Untersuchung derjenigen um andere Sterne ist der Schlüssel zum Verständnis der Entstehung von Planetensystemen.
Ein Team von Astronomen hat mit dem Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) hochauflösende Bilder von 24 Trümmerscheiben um andere Sterne aufgenommen. Die orangefarbenen Bilder in diesem Bild der Woche zeigen die Verteilung des Staubs in diesen Ringen, die blauen Bilder die Verteilung des Gases in sechs davon.
Die Herkunft des Gases in Trümmerscheiben ist umstritten: Es könnte sich um übriggebliebene Urmaterie handeln, die von Anfang an um den Stern herum vorhanden war, oder um Gas, das später freigesetzt wurde, als Staubkörner miteinander kollidierten. Die Trümmerscheibe um den Stern HD 121617, der hier in den beiden Bildern oben rechts zu sehen ist, ist in dieser Hinsicht sehr interessant. Der Staubring (orange) ist auf einer Seite heller, was auf eine höhere Konzentration von Staubkörnern dort hindeutet. Das Team fand heraus, dass ein Gaswirbel dort Staubpartikel einfangen könnte, jedoch nur, wenn die Gasdichte sehr hoch ist. Eine derart hohe Gasdichte würde eher mit einem urtümlichen Ursprung dieses Gases vereinbar sein. Eine weitere Analyse der gesamten Stichprobe von Trümmerscheiben wird uns mehr über die Geheimnisse dieser wertvollen Ringe verraten.
Links
Herkunftsnachweis:ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/S. Marino et al.
Über das Bild
| ID: | potw2603a |
| Sprache: | de |
| Typ: | Beobachtung |
| Veröffentlichungsdatum: | 20. Januar 2026 09:00 |
| Größe: | 5000 x 6000 px |
Über das Objekt
| Name: | HD 121617 |
| Typ: | Milky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Disk : Debris |
Bildformate
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