The sun had rings like Saturn

In Arabic, these rings of dust may have prevented the Earth from growing into a “super-Earth”.

Before the existence of Earth and other planets in Our solar system , the Sun may have been surrounded by giant rings of dust similar to Saturn’s, according to a new study.

These dust rings may have prevented growth the earth to become a “super-Earth” – a type of planet twice the size of Earth and up to ten times its mass, According to NASA . Astronomers have discovered super-Earths orbiting 30% of sun-like stars in our galaxy .

The occurrence of super-Earths in many other solar systems has left astronomers with some unanswered questions: specifically, “If super-Earths are so common, why don’t we have one in the solar system?” Andre Isidoro, an astrophysicist at Rice University in Houston, Texas, said, in a statement . To find out, Isidoro and his colleagues created a computer simulation model of the formation of Solar System ., which emerged from the ashes of a collapsed cloud of dust and gas known as solar nebula ، As previously reported by Live Science .

Their simulations suggested that pressure “bumps,” or high pressure areas of gas and dust, would have surrounded the infant’s sun. It is likely that these areas of high pressure are the result of the movement of molecules towards the Sun under the influence of its strong gravity, heating it and releasing large amounts of vaporized gas.

Simulations showed that there were likely three distinct regions where solid particles evaporated into gas, called “sublimation lines”. In the line closest to the Sun, or the hottest region, the solid silicates have turned into a gas; In the middle line, the ice may be heated enough to turn into gas; And in the farthest line, carbon monoxide became a gas.

The simulations showed that solid particles such as dust somehow bumped into these “protrusions” and began to accumulate. “The effect of the pressure bump is that it collects dust particles, which is why we see rings,” co-author Andrea Isela, associate professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University, said in the statement. If these pressure bumps were not present, the Sun would have quickly devoured the particles, leaving no seeds for the planets to grow. “One needs something to stop them in order to give them time to grow into planets,” Isela said.

With age, the gas and dust surrounding the Sun cools and sublimation lines get closer to the Sun. This process allowed dust to accumulate in minor planets, or planetary seeds the size of asteroids , which can then combine to form planets. “Our model shows that pressure humps can concentrate dust, and moving pressure humps can act as planetary factories,” Isidoro said.

In the statement, Isidoro said pressure humps regulate the amount of material available to form planets in the inner solar system. Related content

According to simulations, the closest ring to the Sun formed the planets of the inner solar system – Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. The middle ring would eventually become the planets of the outer solar system, while the outer ring formed comets, asteroids, and other small objects in the Kuiper Belt, the region outside of Neptune’s orbit.

Moreover, the researchers found that if they simulated the late formation of the middle ring, super-terrestrial planets may have formed in the solar system. “By the time the pressure bump formed in those cases, a lot of the mass had already invaded the inner system and became available for making super-Earths,” Isidoro said. “So the time that this average pressure formed may be a key aspect of the solar system.”

Source/ livescience.com Translator/arabic.com