In 2008, observations from NASA\u2019s now-retired Spitzer infrared space telescope hinted at the presence of neon within the protoplanetary disk of Sun-like star SZ Chamaeleontis (SZ Cha). However, Spitzer\u2019s instruments could not confirm whether this reading was correct. Over a decade after Spitzer\u2019s results were published, the joint NASA, European Space Agency, and Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope observed SZ Cha and directly detected distinct amounts of neon in the protoplanetary disk of SZ Cha \u2014 confirming Spitzer\u2019s observations from 2008.<\/p>\n
Webb\u2019s observations, coupled with Spitzer\u2019s data from 2008, are allowing scientists to better understand SZ Cha and its future as a star system while also providing scientists with insight into what our own solar system may have looked like during its formation.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did we get here? It really goes back to that big question, and SZ Cha is the same type of young star, a T-Tauri star, as our Sun was 4.5 billion years ago at the dawn of the solar system. The raw materials for Earth, and eventually life, were present in the disk of material that surrounded the Sun after it formed, and so studying these other young systems is as close as we can get to going back in time to see how our own story began,\u201d said lead author Catherine Espaillat of Boston University in Massachusetts, who also led the 2008 Spitzer observations.<\/p>\n
Small differences in the specific types of neon detected by Spitzer and Webb have revealed a change in high-energy radiation within the disk \u2014 a never-before-observed phenomenon. This change in high-energy radiation is predicted to eventually cause the protoplanetary disk around SZ Cha to evaporate, limiting the total amount of time planets have to form within the disk. Neon is a great indicator of how much radiation is hitting and eroding the protoplanetary disk around a star, which is why many scientists search for neon around young stars.<\/p>\n