This cosmic region is teeming with comets. Scientists have studied 74 comet belts

Regions of icy bodies may exist around other stars, similar to the Kuiper belt that exists in the solar system. Recently, the ALMA antenna array was used to study 74 of them and found out some interesting details.

Kuiper Belt. Source: phys.org

Comet belts

Clouds of icy bodies similar to the Kuiper belt exist around many stars around the Sun. Recently, astronomers from Trinity College Dublin were convinced of this. They published the results of their study in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

The Kuiper Belt is a toroidal cloud of icy bodies orbiting the Sun at a great distance from it. The objects in it are extremely dim on their own, but when they go astray and fly into the inner parts of the solar system we see them as comets.

Comet belts. Source: phys.org

So far, no comet in the stage when it has a tail outside the solar system has been seen. But the disks themselves, consisting of pebbles frozen in ice, are clearly visible due to the fact that they scatter the star’s radiation outside the visible spectrum. Thanks to it, scientists know that such formations exist near other luminaries where temperatures range from -150 to -250 °C.

ALMA research

However, it takes a really powerful radio telescope to quickly survey many stars, detect comet belts around them, and examine them properly. ALMA, located in South America, is just such an array. It consists of 66 individual antennas that act together.

As part of the REASONS (REsolved ALMA and SMA Observations of Nearby Stars) program, scientists were able to detect comet belts in 20% of the stars studied. Their total number amounted to 74. Some systems contain several disks, which means that there may be planets moving in the gaps between them that we can’t see.

Scientists have confirmed the assumption that the older a star system gets, the smaller the number of objects which remain in its ice belts. Some of them turn into comets and vaporize over time.

Together, the researchers have shown that comet belts can preserve fairly massive objects for billions of years. Their diameter can range from 140 km and up to the size of the Moon. In general, the results of the study are still waiting to be comprehended.

According to phys.org

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