The key to finding dust, exoplanets

2002/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

Around the Sun there is a curious ring of dust. It was first observed in 1970 through the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 spacecraft. It extends beyond Saturn and surrounds the solar system. Its origin is not very clear, but of course it is constantly renewed, otherwise the Sun would do it long ago or expelled it. Now, ESA researchers have suggested that the ring is born in the Kuiper belt, located at the limits of the solar system.

In Kuiper's belt there are remnants of the time when the solar system is believed to have occurred, and the ring would be fed by the dust that comes from the collision that occurs between the objects of the same. Computer simulations have calculated that 50 tons of dust per second are generated, enough to maintain the ring. The ring emits infrared light and is observable remotely.

In addition, due to the resonances that occur between the gravity field and the ring of the giant planets of the solar system, the ring presents characteristic gaps and edges. According to ESA astronomers, these characteristics will allow us to know if there are planets around the stars. About 40 stars have already been observed rings.