What makes exoplanets habitable? BARBARA ERCOLANO pursues this overarching question by focusing on the birth sites of these planets. Planets are born in the circumstellar disk that surrounds every young star. The specific research question presented in this video centers on the star TW Hydrae, which is very close to earth. The researchers investigated whether the T Tauri star “TW Hydrae” has a protoplanetary disk that is on the verge of dispersal. At this stage these disks affect the formation of planetary systems. Observations from ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) show that there is a hole at the center of TW Hydrae. Using numerical simulations to construct a theoretical model that fits all the observations of the star, the researchers established that the most likely explanation of this hole is that TW Hydrae is really about to disperse. This finding suggests TW Hydrae as a perfect case study for understanding this crucial element in the development of protoplanetary disks.

LT Video Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10438