New study shows giant planets form faster than expected

WEB DESK: A team of researchers from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), the ORIGINS cluster and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) created a new model that changes our understanding of how giant planets like Jupiter are formed.

The model offers new insights into the processes that shape planetary systems.

Traditionally, scientists believed that giant planets form through collisions and accumulation of small bodies, called planetesimals, which then gathered gas over millions of years. However, this theory couldn’t fully explain why gas giants are found so far from their stars or how planets like Uranus and Neptune formed.

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The new model developed by the LMU team includes all the important processes involved in planet formation. It shows that certain disturbances in protoplanetary disks—where planets form—can quickly lead to the creation of multiple gas giants. The discovery suggests that giant planets can form more efficiently and rapidly than previously thought.

Here’s how it works: dust particles in a protoplanetary disk, which is a swirling cloud of gas and dust around a young star, can accumulate and clump together. When a planet becomes large enough, it affects the gas disk around it, pushing dust to new areas. This process makes it easier for new giant planets to form quickly.

Til Birnstiel, a Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics at LMU, explains that as a planet grows, it pushes dust into regions farther from its orbit. This “dust herding” creates new conditions where additional giant planets can form. For the first time, this model traces how dust particles can turn into giant planets.

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The model also helps explain why our solar system stopped forming giant planets after Neptune. According to the study, the material needed to build more planets was used up. It also accounts for observations of other planetary systems where gas giants are found at distances much greater than we thought possible, thanks to the ALMA radio observatory.