The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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This graphic presents some of the results from the MIRI Mid-INfrared Disk Survey (MINDS), which aims to build a bridge between the chemical inventory of discs and the properties of exoplanets. In a new study, the science team explored the region around a very low-mass star of 0.11 solar masses (known as ISO-ChaI 147). These observations provide insights into the environment as well as basic ingredients for such planets to form. The team found that the gas in the planet-forming region of the star is rich in carbon. This could potentially be because carbon is removed from the solid material from which rocky planets can form, and could explain why Earth is relatively carbon-poor.
The spectrum revealed by Webb’s Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) shows the richest hydrocarbon chemistry seen to date in a protoplanetary disc, consisting of 13 carbon-bearing molecules up to benzene. This includes the first extrasolar detection of ethane (C2H6), the largest fully-saturated hydrocarbon detected outside our Solar System. Since fully-saturated hydrocarbons are expected to form from more basic molecules, detecting them here gives researchers clues about the chemical environment. The team also successfully detected ethylene (C2H4), propyne (C3H4), and the methyl radical CH3, for the first time in a protoplanetary disc.
This graphic highlights the detections of ethane (C2H6), methane (CH4), propyne (C3H4), cyanoacetylene (HC3N), and the methyl radical CH3.