RESUMO
The understanding of planet formation has changed recently, embracing the new idea of pebble accretion. This means that the influx of pebbles from the outer regions of planet-forming disks to their inner zones could determine the composition of planets and their atmospheres. The solid and molecular components delivered to the planet-forming region can be best characterized by mid-infrared spectroscopy. With Spitzer low-resolution (R = 100, 600) spectroscopy, this approach was limited to the detection of abundant molecules, such as H2O, C2H2, HCN and CO2. This contribution will present the first results of the MINDS (MIRI mid-INfrared Disk Survey, PI:Th Henning) project. Due do the sensitivity and spectral resolution provided by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), we now have a unique tool to obtain the full inventory of chemistry in the inner disks of solar-type stars and brown dwarfs, including also less-abundant hydrocarbons and isotopologues. The Integral Field Unit (IFU) capabilities will enable at the same time spatial studies of the continuum and line emission in extended sources such as debris disks, the flying saucer and also the search for mid-IR signatures of forming planets in systems such as PDS 70. These JWST observations are complementary to ALMA and NOEMA observations of outer-disk chemistry; together these datasets will provide an integral view of the processes occurring during the planet-formation phase.
RESUMO
In the widely accepted 'unified model'1 solution of the classification puzzle of active galactic nuclei, the orientation of a dusty accretion torus around the central black hole dominates their appearance. In 'type-1' systems, the bright nucleus is visible at the centre of a face-on torus. In 'type-2' systems the thick, nearly edge-on torus hides the central engine. Later studies suggested evolutionary effects2 and added dusty clumps and polar winds3 but left the basic picture intact. However, recent high-resolution images4 of the archetypal type-2 galaxy NGC 10685,6, suggested a more radical revision. The images displayed a ring-like emission feature that was proposed to be hot dust surrounding the black hole at the radius where the radiation from the central engine evaporates the dust. That ring is too thin and too far tilted from edge-on to hide the central engine, and ad hoc foreground extinction is needed to explain the type-2 classification. These images quickly generated reinterpretations of the dichotomy between types 1 and 27,8. Here we present new multi-band mid-infrared images of NGC 1068 that detail the dust temperature distribution and reaffirm the original model. Combined with radio data (J.F.G. and C.M.V.I., manuscript in preparation), our maps locate the central engine that is below the previously reported ring and obscured by a thick, nearly edge-on disk, as predicted by the unified model. We also identify emission from polar flows and absorbing dust that is mineralogically distinct from that towards the Milky Way centre.
RESUMO
Although planets are being discovered around stars more massive than the Sun, information about the proto-planetary disks where such planets have built up is sparse. We have imaged mid-infrared emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at the surface of the disk surrounding the young intermediate-mass star HD 97048 and characterized the disk. The disk is in an early stage of evolution, as indicated by its large content of dust and its hydrostatic flared geometry, indicative of the presence of a large amount of gas that is well mixed with dust and gravitationally stable. The disk is a precursor of debris disks found around more-evolved A stars such as beta-Pictoris and provides the rare opportunity to witness the conditions prevailing before (or during) planet formation.
