The James Webb Space Telescope has taken a significant step towards solving the mystery of a planet considered to be one of the oldest in the universe, estimated to be around 13 billion years old. Discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2003, this planet had caused great astonishment in the scientific world at the time. This is because, in such early periods of the universe, the heavy elements necessary for the formation of planets were not yet sufficiently available.
A new research team attempted to solve this mystery by utilizing the advanced observation capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope. The observations revealed that planet-forming disks around low-metal stars could exist for much longer than previously thought. Guido De Marchi, who led the research, stated that their results are consistent with past observations by Hubble and emphasized that these new data require a reevaluation of planet formation models in the early universe.
The findings show that the lack of heavy elements increases the resilience of these disks, allowing them to protect against the radiation of stars. Additionally, it was discovered that these disks can remain around stars for tens of millions of years. This long-lasting existence creates more favorable conditions for the formation of planets.
James Webb’s NIRSpec Instrument Played a Critical Role in the Research
The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) of the James Webb Space Telescope played a critical role in the success of this research. With its capacity to observe 100 targets simultaneously, NIRSpec increased the speed of data collection and was effective in examining stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud. The results of the research showed that the accumulation of matter around stars lasted longer and provided conditions supporting the formation of planets during this process. According to Elena Sabbi, the longer existence of disks greatly influences the planet formation processes and the architecture of these systems.
