An incredible new computer simulation by NASA shows the planet and debris disk around the nearby star Beta Pictoris in motion.
The findings reveal the planet's motion causes the debris in the disk to form into spiral waves, which accounts for many observed features of the system that had been previously unexplained.
"We essentially created a virtual Beta Pictoris in the computer and watched it evolve over millions of years," said Erika Nesvold, an astrophysicist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who co-developed the simulation. "This is the first full 3-D model of a debris disk where we can watch the development of asymmetric features formed by planets, like warps and eccentric rings, and also track collisions among the particles at the same time."
Beta Pictoris is believed to be 21 million years old, which is less than 1 percent of the age of our solar system. It is being used to gain insight into the evolution of a young planetary system. It contains a planet that is about nine times more massive than Jupiter as well as a disc of debris made from ice and rock fragments.
Scientists have been struggling to explain observed features in the system, such as a warp seen at submillimeter wavelengths, an X-shaped pattern visible in scattered light, and clumps of carbon monoxide gas.
"Our simulation suggests many of these features can be readily explained by a pair of colliding spiral waves excited in the disk by the motion and gravity of Beta Pictoris b," said Marc Kuchner, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center."Much like someone doing a cannonball in a swimming pool, the planet drove huge changes in the debris disk once it reached its present orbit."
To make these findings, a supercomputer ran for 11 days and followed the evolution of 100,000 superparticles over the lifetime of the disk. The simulations showed that as the planet moved along its distinctly tilted path, it passed vertically through the disc twice per orbit. The gravity of the planet created a vertical spiral wave within the disc. The debris concentrated in the "crests and troughs" of the waves, which could explain both the observed X-shaped patterns and clumps of carbon monoxide.
The planet in the system has an "eccentric orbit," meaning it differs a bit with each rotation, this new research could help explain why this occurs.
"One of the nagging questions about Beta Pictoris is how the planet ended up in such an odd orbit," Nesvold said. "Our simulation suggests it arrived there about 10 million years ago, possibly after interacting with other planets orbiting the star that we haven't detected yet."
The findings were published in a recent edition of the Astrophysical Journal.
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