Imaging of the CO Snow Line in a Solar Nebula Analog

• DOI: 10.1126/science.1239560
• Publication Date: 2013-07-19T04:51:53Z
• Authors: Chunhua Qi; Karin I. Öberg; David J. Wilner; Paola D’Alessio; Edwin Bergin; Sean M. Andrews; Geoffrey A. Blake; Michiel R. Hogerh...; Ewine F. van Dish...
• Keywords: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics; 13. Climate action; 0103 physical sciences; FOS: Physical sciences; 530; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy; 520; Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR); Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Solar Snow Lines

Models of the formation of our solar system have suggested that condensation lines, or snow lines—the distance from a star beyond which a gas or a liquid can condense into the solid phase—are favorable locations for planet formation. Taking advantage of the increase of N 2 H + abundance in cold regions where CO condenses out of the gas phase,

Qi et al.

(p. 630 , published online 18 July) used the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array to image the CO snow line in the disk around TW Hya, an analog of the solar nebula from which the solar system formed. This disk's snow line corresponds to Neptune's orbit in our solar system.