Publications of the MPIfR
Optical & Infrared
Interferometry Group
Van Boekel, R., Min, M., Leinert, Ch.,
Waters, L.B.F.M., Richichi, A., Chesneau, O., Dominik, C., Jaffe, W.,
Dutrey, A., Graser, U., Henning, Th., de Jong, J., Koehler, R., de
Koter, A., Lopez, B., Malbet, F., Morel, S., Paresce, F., Perrin, G.,
Preibisch, Th., Przygodda, F., Schoeller, M., & Wittkowski, M.
The building blocks of planets within the
'terrestrial' region of protoplanetary disks
Nature 432, 479 - 482 (25 November 2004);
doi:10.1038/nature03088
Abstract
Our Solar System was formed from a cloud of gas and dust. Most of the
dust mass is contained in amorphous silicates, yet crystalline
silicates are abundant throughout the Solar System, reflecting the
thermal and chemical alteration of solids during planet formation.
(Even primitive bodies such as comets contain crystalline silicates.)
Little is known about the evolution of the dust that forms Earth-like
planets. Here we report spatially resolved detections and compositional
analyses of these building blocks in the innermost two astronomical
units of three proto-planetary disks. We find the dust in these regions
to be highly crystallized, more so than any other dust observed in
young stars until now. In addition, the outer region of one star has
equal amounts of pyroxene and olivine, whereas the inner regions are
dominated by olivine. The spectral shape of the inner-disk spectra
shows surprising similarity with Solar System comets. Radial-mixing
models naturally explain this resemblance as well as the gradient in
chemical composition. Our observations imply that silicates crystallize
before any terrestrial planets are formed, consistent with the
composition of meteorites in the Solar System.
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