Still-forming Planetary System: HOPS-315 in Orion | ESO ALMA

Still-forming Planetary System: HOPS-315 in Orion | ESO ALMA

ALMA image of HOPS-315, a still-forming planetary system

These images illustrate how hot gas condenses into solid minerals around the baby star HOPS-315. The image to the left was taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Two insets show artist’s impressions of molecules of silicon monoxide condensing into solid silicates.

This image shows jets of silicon monoxide (SiO) blowing away from the baby star HOPS-315. The image was obtained with the with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). 

The blue jet is moving towards us, and the red one is moving away. Observations taken with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) show signatures of SiO moving at about 10 km/s. The SiO jets seen in this ALMA image move about 10 times faster though. This means that the slow-moving SiO must be located in a small area around the star, about the size of the asteroid belt around our Sun, too small to be seen in this image.

Also, the abundance of gaseous SiO measured in the jet seen with ALMA is lower than expected. Since the composition of the jet should be similar to that of the disc from where the jet emerges, this means that some of the gaseous SiO in the disc is condensing into solid material.

This is HOPS-315, a baby star where astronomers have observed evidence for the earliest stages of planet formation. The image was taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is part of the ALMA partnership. Together with data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), these observations show that hot minerals are beginning to solidify.

In orange, we see the distribution of carbon monoxide, blowing away from the star in a butterfly-shaped wind. In blue, we see a narrow jet of silicon monoxide, also beaming away from the star. These gaseous winds and jets are common around baby stars like HOPS-315.

Together the ALMA and JWST observations indicate that, in addition to these features, there is also a disc of gaseous silicon monoxide around the star that is condensing into solid silicates––the first stages of planetary formation.

Credit: ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. McClure et al.
Release Date: July 16, 2025

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