Carbon excess around young planetary system
The second brightest star in the southern constellation Maler orbits not only two growing offspring planets, but also a surprisingly carbon-rich dust disk. This was confirmed by NASA observers while carefully looking at the system 60 light-years away with the FUSE satellite (Far Ultraviolet S pectroscopic Explorer).
The dust disk around Beta Pictoris therefore contains nine times more carbon than oxygen - the ratio is only half as high in the star itself or the Sun. The researchers are discussing two possible reasons for the surprising C-richness of the cloud of matter: On the one hand, it could be going through what is perhaps quite the usual short phase of planet formation, in which radioactivity heats many of the smaller, constantly colliding chunks and carbonaceous gas such as methane evaporates, which would then only disappear in the course of the developing planetary system. Researchers speculate that something similar could have happened around our sun about 4.6 billion years ago. This is indicated, for example, by the composition of the enstatite-chondrite meteorites rarely found on Earth, which may also have formed in a rather carbon-rich environment.
On the other hand, the building material in the dust disk around Beta Pictoris could have been and remain much richer in carbon right from the start, believe the researchers led by Aki Roberge. According to the scientist, one reason for this is not obvious - the planetary system that arises from the C-rich dust belt is likely to be characterized in this case by celestial bodies that resemble Saturn's moon Titan with its methane atmosphere.
