Have we been able to observe planetary systems forming in these systems?
Until 2015, no one had ever observed a planet or a star being formed. Every detail about the nebular theory was completely theoretical and the hypothesis of the theory was yet to be confirmed physically. However, researchers coming from Australia and the US managed to observe the formation of a planet in 2015, November (Dockrill, 2015) . By using the Magellan Telescope which has an adaptive optics system together with other telescopes, scientists were able to get images of a planet being formed. According to the images, LkCA15 is seen to be surrounded by a protoplanetary disk. The disk is usually composed of materials that remain as debris after a young star has been formed. Scientists observed three planets being formed around the star. The planetary motion was tracked over a span of 6 years, between 2009 and 2015 (Dockrill, 2015) . The star is thought to be approximately 2 million years old. This age is considered young for a star and hence the debris around it is still capable of forming new planets.
What does this tell us about the processes that form planets?
From the observation above, we can certainly conclude that the nebular theory provides an accurate explanation of how planets are formed. However, other theories are yet to be declared void since there may exist more than one way of planet formation. The nebular theory is the only one that has been affirmed until now. Logically, the nebular theory, which has been seen to have aided in the formation of the star LkCA15 and the planets around it, also explains the formation of the sun – the star of our solar system - and the planets around the sun. It also means that the particles surrounding the sun could merge to form other planets. This means that our solar system will keep expanding as time goes.
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References
Dockrill, P. (2015, November 19). Scientists Have Observed a Planet Forming For The First Time Ever . Retrieved from Sciencealert: https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-observed-a-planet-forming-for-the-first-time-ever
