Exoplanetary Scratchpad [SysBP Img]

One of the two youngest stars (about a million years old) detected with evidence for a planet-forming circumstellar disk. Has an outer dust disk (which would envelop the Solar System) and a thin inner dust disk (which would fit inside Mercury's orbit). The inner disk is somewhat lopsided. Planet b was later detected, the youngest and first direct photograph of a protoplanet. It is a giant planet orbiting at Uranus-like distances and appears as a blue dot. It is about 1,000C and surrounded by a red structure about 500C, which could be material colliding into the protoplanet or being ejected from it. Its mass, and planetary status, still needs to be determined.

Contents 1 LkCa 15 System In the News 1.1 Debris Disk "Lanes" Detected (Nov 2007) 1.2 Inner Disk Edge is Lopsided (Feb 2011) 1.3 Planet b Discovered and Imaged (Nov 2011)

LkCa 15 System In the NewsEdit

Debris Disk "Lanes" Detected (Nov 2007)Edit

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/071129-baby-solar-systems.html
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-11/uom-yss112907.php

Inner Disk Edge is Lopsided (Feb 2011)Edit

• http://www.mpg.de/1172275/protoplanetary_disks

Planet b Discovered and Imaged (Nov 2011)Edit

• http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/birth-youngest-planet-images-keck-observatory-hawaii/story?id=14778712#.TwO0bPlEIqN
• http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/press-releases/formingplanet/
• http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/132254873.html
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20111019/us-sci-young-planet/
• http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n1110/20lkca/
• http://keckobservatory.org/news/first_close-up_view_of_a_planet_being_formed/
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/oct/20/youngest-planet-ever-found-lkca15b
• http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/1019/How-are-planets-born-LkCa-15-could-give-scientists-first-ever-peek.
• http://news.discovery.com/space/big-pic-baby-exoplanet-keck-art-111019.html
• http://www.space.com/13328-youngest-alien-planet-exoplanet-formation.html