Protoplanetary disc

This fulldome rendering for planetarium use shows a protoplanetary disc, similar to the disc from which the planets of our Solar System formed.

Amongst other details, the simulation shows the gap in which Jupiter forms. Jupiter was the first planet to accumulate large amounts of gas, and thus opened a gap in the disc along its orbit.

The depiction of the disc is based on astrophysical simulation data, with the disc's brightness rendered according to thickness and density at a given point, and with colour coding for the disc's temperature at each spot. As the disc mainly emits infrared radiation, it would appear dark to a human observer. The depicted colour can thus be thought of as the impression an observer wearing "IR goggles" might experience.

The data of the disc (volume, density, and temperature structure) were kindly provided by Hubert Klahr at MPIA. The rendering was created by Northdocks GmbH, for the planetarium show "Time Travel - From The Big Bang To Mankind", created at Münster planetarium in cooperation with the planetariums at Ausgburg, Berlin, Bochum, Jena, Kiel, Mannheim, Nürnberg, Osnabrück, and Wolfsburg.

While the disc is accurately rendered according to simulation data, some further detail has been artifically added. This includes the background image, planetesimals that are shown as glowing dots when entering the gap, and the red-glowing proto-Jupiter.