SZ Chamaeleontis (Artist Concept)

In this artist concept, the young star SZ Chamaeleontis (SZ Cha) is surrounded by a disk of dust and gas with the potential to form a planetary system. Once our solar system looked something like this, before planets, moons, and asteroids formed. The raw ingredients, including those for life on Earth, were present in the Sun’s protoplanetary disk.

SZ Cha emits radiation in multiple wavelengths which are evaporating the disk. Planets are in a race against time to form before the disk of material is evaporated completely. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observed typical conditions in the disk – it was being bombarded primarily by X-rays. However, when NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope observed the disk in 2008, it saw a different scene, dominated by extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light, indicated by the presence of a specific type of neon in the disk. These differences are significant because planets would have more time to form from a disk dominated by EUV. Astronomers are investigating the cause of the difference between Webb and Spitzer’s readings, and think it may be due to the presence (or not) of a strong wind that, when active, absorbs EUV, leaving X-rays to hit the disk.