Hubble Reveals Star-Grazing Exocomets

Hubble discovered indirect evidence of star-grazing exocomets.

Despite the fact that Hubble will soon be replaced by a mode advanced new generation of a telescope, it is still able to provide scientists amazing new discovery about the Universe. His latest one was made possible through the Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), which provided indirect evidence of several exocomets falling into a star known as HD 172555.

Unfortunately, obtaining this type of indirect evidence of star-grazing exocomets by detecting the gasses they produce after they fall into the star, is the best data that Hubble can provide as it is unable to directly observe them.

The determined pattern of star-grazing exocomets is similar to that of our solar system’s own comets which end up falling into the sun. However, the HD 172555 star is located around 95 light years away from Earth, and scientists discovered that it’s quite young, with an age of around 23 million years old. This age places it in the period where planets usually form.

Additionally, the star is part of the Beta Pictoris Moving Group, which is located in a stellar nursery and is only the third solar system discovered to contain star-grazing exocomets. The two previously detected star system with exocomets are also quite young, being below 40 million years old.

A group of researchers led by Carol Grady from the Eureka Scientific Inc. group located in Oakland, California in collaboration with researchers from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center from Maryland, believe that the gravity of an undiscovered gas giant planet the size of Jupiter is what determines the exocomets to fall into the star.

Scientists also believe that similar comets in our solar system have delivered water and other precursors for life to Earth, in its early stages of life. After an extensive analysis of all three star systems with star-grazing exocomets, the researchers concluded that their activity may be common to young solar systems.

The activity of star-grazing comets coincides with the teenage period of star’s life and provides insight into the early years of our own solar system, and the degree that such comets contributed to the formation of life on Earth as they carry water and other elements like carbon.

What do you think about Hubble’s newest discovery?

Image credit: NASA

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Karen Jackson

Karen Jackson has always been passionate about technology. All the way through high-school she immersed herself in computers and web-design. Her ambitious nature helped her become a pro in Adobe Photoshop only by watching online videos and working with the program herself. This is also the program that she mostly uses in the creation of websites at her work-place. Technological innovation and gadgets that push the boundaries of what we are comfortable with have always fascinated her, so expect to see some weird gadget reviews coming from her.