Researchers created the most complete to date census of comets around a star other than our own.
The findings were made using the HARPS instrument at the La Silla Observatory in Chile, the European Southern Observatory reported.
The researchers observed 500 individual comets orbiting the star Beta Pictoris and found they came from two distinct families: older ones that have made many passages around the star, and newer comets that most likely came from the breakup of a larger object.
"Beta Pictoris is a very exciting target! The detailed observations of its exocomets give us clues to help understand what processes occur in this kind of young planetary system," said Flavien Kiefer (IAP/CNRS/UPMC), lead author of the new study.
To make their findings the researchers looked at 1000 observations obtained between 2003 and 2011, selecting a sample of 493 different exocomets. The observations took into account the orbital properties of each of these exocomets, such as their shape or proximity to the host star.
The team found the exocomets in the older group had varied orbits with low activity and weak gas production, this suggest the comets have used up the majority of their ice supply. The newer family of exocomets is much more active and have nearly identical orbits, which most likely indicates the objects all came grom the same source.
"For the first time a statistical study has determined the physics and orbits for a large number of exocomets. This work provides a remarkable look at the mechanisms that were at work in the Solar System just after its formation 4.5 billion years ago," Kiefer concluded.
Beta Pictoris is located about 60 million light-years from our own sun and is approximately 20 million years old.
The findings were published Oct. 23 in the journal Nature.
