15/06/2026, 14:42 Protoplanetary disk - Wikipedia

Protoplanetary disk
A protoplanetary disk is a rotating circumstellar disc of
dense gas and dust surrounding a young newly formed
star, a T Tauri star, or Herbig Ae/Be star. The
protoplanetary disk may not be considered an accretion
disk; while the two are similar, an accretion disk is hotter
and spins much faster, accreting matter onto a central
body; it is also found on black holes, not only stars. This
process should not be confused with the accretion process
thought to build up the planets themselves. Externally
illuminated photo-evaporating protoplanetary disks are
called proplyds.

Atacama Large Millimeter Array image of

Formation HL Tauri[1][2]

Protostars are formed from molecular clouds consisting

primarily of molecular hydrogen. When a portion of a
molecular cloud reaches a critical size, mass, or density, it
begins to collapse under its own gravity. As this collapsing
cloud, called a solar nebula, becomes denser, random gas
motions originally present in the cloud average out in favor
of the direction of the nebula's net angular momentum.
Conservation of angular momentum causes the rotation to
increase as the nebula radius decreases. This rotation
causes the cloud to flatten out—much like forming a flat
The evolutionary sequence of
pizza out of dough—and take the form of a disk. This
protoplanetary disks with substructures[3]
occurs because centripetal acceleration from the orbital
motion resists the gravitational pull of the star only in the
radial direction, but the cloud remains free to collapse in the axial direction. The outcome is the
formation of a thin disc supported by gas pressure in the axial direction.[5] The initial collapse
takes more than 100,000 years. After that time the star reaches a surface temperature similar to
that of a main sequence star of the same mass and becomes visible.

It is now a T Tauri star. Accretion of gas onto the star continues for another 10 million years,[6]
before the disk disappears, perhaps being blown away by the young star's stellar wind, or perhaps
simply ceasing to emit radiation after accretion has ended. The oldest protoplanetary disk yet
discovered is 25 million years old.[7][8]

Protoplanetary disks around T Tauri stars differ from the disks surrounding the primary
components of close binary systems with respect to their size and temperature. Protoplanetary
disks have radii up to 1000 AU, and only their innermost parts reach temperatures above 1000 K.
They are very often accompanied by jets.

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Protoplanetary disks have been observed around several

young stars in our galaxy. Observations by the Hubble
Space Telescope have shown proplyds and planetary disks
to be forming within the Orion Nebula.[10][11]

Protoplanetary disks are thought to be thin structures, with

a typical vertical height much smaller than the radius, and
a typical mass much smaller than the central young
star.[12]

The mass of a typical proto-planetary disk is dominated by

its gas, however, the presence of dust grains has a major
role in its evolution. Dust grains shield the mid-plane of
A 2009 image showing fractions of stars
the disk from energetic radiation from outer space that
that suggest some evidence of having a
creates a dead zone in which the magnetorotational
protoplanetary disk as a function of their
instability (MRI) no longer operates.[13][14] stellar age in millions of years; The
samples are nearby young clusters and
It is believed that these disks consist of a turbulent associations.[4]
envelope of plasma, also called the active zone, that
encases an extensive region of quiescent gas called the
dead zone.[14] The dead zone located at the mid-plane can
slow down the flow of matter through the disk which
prohibits achieving a steady state.

Protoplanetary disk. Simulated spiral arm

vs observational data.[9]

Supernova remnant ejecta producing planet-forming material.

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Planetary system
The nebular hypothesis
of solar system
formation describes
how protoplanetary
disks are thought to
evolve into planetary
systems. Electrostatic
and gravitational
interactions may cause
the dust and ice grains
in the disk to accrete
into planetesimals. This
process competes
against the stellar wind,
which drives the gas
out of the system, and
gravity (accretion) and An artist's illustration giving a simple overview of the main regions of a
internal stresses protoplanetary disk, delineated by the soot and frost line, which for example has
(viscosity), which pulls been observed around the star V883 Orionis.[15]
material into the
central T Tauri star.
Planetesimals constitute the building blocks of both terrestrial and giant planets.[16][17]

Some of the moons of

Jupiter, Saturn, and
Uranus are believed to
have formed from
smaller,
circumplanetary
analogs of the
protoplanetary
disks.[18][19] The
formation of planets
and moons in
geometrically thin, gas-
and dust-rich disks is A model of a protoplanetary disk
the reason why the
planets are arranged in
an ecliptic plane. Tens of millions of years after the formation of the Solar System, the inner few
AU of the Solar System likely contained dozens of moon- to Mars-sized bodies that were accreting
and consolidating into the terrestrial planets that we now see. The Earth's moon likely formed after
a Mars-sized protoplanet obliquely impacted the proto-Earth ~30 million years after the formation
of the Solar System.

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Debris disks
Gas-poor disks of circumstellar dust have been found around many nearby stars—most of which
have ages in the range of ~10 million years (e.g. Beta Pictoris, 51 Ophiuchi) to billions of years (e.g.
Tau Ceti). These systems are usually referred to as "debris disks". Given the older ages of these
stars, and the short lifetimes of micrometer-sized dust grains around stars due to Poynting
Robertson drag, collisions, and radiation pressure (typically hundreds to thousands of years), it is
thought that this dust is from the collisions of planetesimals (e.g. asteroids, comets). Hence the
debris disks around these examples (e.g. Vega, Alphecca, Fomalhaut, etc.) are not
"protoplanetary", but represent a later stage of disk evolution where extrasolar analogs of the
asteroid belt and Kuiper belt are home to dust-generating collisions between planetesimals.

Relation to abiogenesis
Based on recent computer model studies, the complex organic molecules necessary for life may
have formed in the protoplanetary disk of dust grains surrounding the Sun before the formation of
the Earth.[20] According to the computer studies, this same process may also occur around other
stars that acquire planets.[20] (Also see Extraterrestrial organic molecules.)

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Gallery

Illustration of the 20 protoplanetary A shadow is created Protoplanetary disc

dynamics of a proplyd discs captured by the by the protoplanetary AS 209 nestled in the
High Angular disc surrounding the young Ophiuchus
Resolution Project star HBC 672 within star-forming
(DSHARP).[21] the nebula.[22] region.[23]

Protoplanetary disk By observing dusty Concentric rings Debris disks detected

HH 212.[24] protoplanetary discs, around young star in HST images of
scientists investigate HD 141569A, located young stars, HD
the first steps of some 370 light-years 141943 and HD
planet formation.[25] away.[26] 191089 - images at
top; geometry at
bottom.[27]

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Protoplanetary disk Artist's impression of A proplyd in the Orion Video shows the
HH-30 in Taurus - a protoplanetary disk. Nebula. evolution of the disc
disk emits the reddish around a young star
stellar jet. like HL Tauri (artist
concept).

Image of the An artist's concept of Components of HOPS-315, a still-

circumtrinary disc a protoplanetary disk proplyd 177-341W in forming planetary
around GW the Orion Nebula system showing
Orionis.[28] observed with VLT evidence for the
MUSE, showing an earliest stages of
ionization front, planet formation.
protoplanetary disk,
and tail[29]

See also
Accretion disk
Circumplanetary disk – Accumulation of matter around a planet
Debris disk
Disk wind – material ejected from a disk
Disrupted planet
Exoasteroid
Formation and evolution of the Solar System
Herbig–Haro object
Nebular hypothesis
Q-PACE – a spacecraft mission to study accretion
Planetary system

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[1]

Further reading
Davis, Sanford S. (2006). "A New Model for Water Vapor and Ice Abundance in a
Protoplanetary Nebula". American Astronomical Society, DPS Meeting #38, #66.07. 38: 617.
Bibcode:2006DPS....38.6607D ([Link]
Barrado y Navascues, D. (1998). "The Castor moving group: The age of Fomalhaut and Vega"
([Link]
[Link]). Astronomy and Astrophysics. 339 (3): 831–839. arXiv:astro-ph/9905243 ([Link]
[Link]/abs/astro-ph/9905243). Bibcode:1998A&A...339..831B ([Link]
s/1998A&A...339..831B). Archived from the original ([Link]
831/[Link]) on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-06-22.
Kalas, Paul; Graham, J.; Clampin, M. (2005). "A planetary system as the origin of structure in
Fomalhaut's dust belt". Nature. 435 (7045): 1067–70. arXiv:astro-ph/0506574 ([Link]
abs/astro-ph/0506574). Bibcode:2005Natur.435.1067K ([Link]
5Natur.435.1067K). doi:10.1038/nature03601 ([Link]
PMID 15973402 ([Link] S2CID 4406070 ([Link]
[Link]/CorpusID:4406070).
Williams, J. P.; Cieza, L. A. (2011). "Protoplanetary Disks and Their Evolution". Annual Review
of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 49 (1): 67–117. arXiv:1103.0556 ([Link]
56). Bibcode:2011ARA&A..49...67W ([Link]
W). doi:10.1146/annurev-astro-081710-102548 ([Link]
10-102548). S2CID 58904348 ([Link]
Armitage, P. J. (2011). "Dynamics of Protoplanetary Disks". Annual Review of Astronomy and
Astrophysics. 49 (1): 195–236. arXiv:1011.1496 ([Link]
Bibcode:2011ARA&A..49..195A ([Link]
doi:10.1146/annurev-astro-081710-102521 ([Link]
102521). S2CID 55900935 ([Link]

1. "Home | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian" ([Link]

[Link]. Retrieved 2024-08-01.

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