A team of astronomers has discovered that massive stars in the Cygnus OB2 cluster can harm the formation of new planets. This cluster, located about 4,600 light-years away from Earth, is home to hundreds of huge stars and thousands of smaller ones.
These massive stars emit a lot of high-energy radiation that can be harmful to nearby dust and gas disks where new planets form.
The astronomers used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory along with other tools to study Cygnus OB2. By combining X-ray, ultraviolet, optical and infrared data, they created a detailed map of the star cluster. This map revealed the areas where new planets are least likely to form.
Radiation from Massive Stars Quickly Destroys Young Stars' Disks
The Chandra data showed a purple glow that indicates X-ray emissions, while data from the Spitzer Space Telescope displayed red, green, blue, and cyan colors representing younger stars and cooler dust.
In star-forming regions like Cygnus OB2, the intense radiation from massive stars can speed up the process of "photoevaporation." This is when the disks around young stars shrink due to radiation, causing them to disappear much quicker than expected. Normally, these disks fade away over five to ten million years.
However, when near massive stars, this time can shorten significantly. The researchers found that in areas with high levels of radiation and many stars, only about 18% of young stars have their planet-forming disks intact. In contrast, regions with less radiation see about 40% of young stars retaining their disks.
The scientists also looked at the X-ray emissions in the cluster. They noticed that the higher-energy emissions came from gas that was heated up due to collisions from winds produced by the massive stars, according tp Phys.org.
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