ALMA expands horizons: new images of the formation of planets
On Wednesday, November 5, the ALMA Observatory (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) issued a press release , where scientists announced they had reached a new level in observing how planets form around a star. A similar “gift” to researchers was presented by the sun-like star HL Tau in the constellation Taurus .
As noted in the press release, this was made possible thanks to the qualitatively new resolution of the telescope, achieved with the help of separation of individual antennas of the complex over a distance of 15 kilometers. Scientists say that a big step forward is made in understanding how planets form.
The star itself, presumably, is about 1 million years old, about 450 light years away from Earth and, as noted above, is in the constellation Taurus.
')
The image shows the location of the star HL Tau in the nebula.
Stuart Corder, deputy director of the ALMA Observatory, notes that these disk structures in the form of dark rings are almost certainly the result of the formation of planets. Moreover, it is surprising that the presence of a fairly massive protoplanetary disk is not typical for such young stars.
The image shows a comparison of the sizes of the protoplanetary disk of the HL Tau star and the Solar system. Although the star itself is much smaller than the Sun, the radius of its disk is three times larger than the distance from the Sun to Neptune.
In the visible spectrum, the star is hidden from the observer by a massive cloud of gas and dust, however, thanks to the telescope's capabilities in the wavelength range from 0.3 to 9.6 mm, such clear observation of objects that are in the cloud itself has become possible. The information obtained not only confirms the previously put forward hypotheses about the process of the formation of planets, but also indicates that such processes can occur much faster than expected.
UPD (@Akuji_bwn):
For reference: ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) is an international project whose goal is to build the largest astronomical observatory in Chile. On October 1, 2013, the delivery of the last, 66th antenna to the Chahnantor plateau was announced. The antennas themselves are radio telescopes with a diameter of 7 to 12 meters each. To correlate the joint operation of all antennas, a supercomputer was installed at the station, capable of performing 17 quadrillion operations per second.
Source: ALMA Observatory site .
As noted in the press release, this was made possible thanks to the qualitatively new resolution of the telescope, achieved with the help of separation of individual antennas of the complex over a distance of 15 kilometers. Scientists say that a big step forward is made in understanding how planets form.
The star itself, presumably, is about 1 million years old, about 450 light years away from Earth and, as noted above, is in the constellation Taurus.
')
The image shows the location of the star HL Tau in the nebula.
Stuart Corder, deputy director of the ALMA Observatory, notes that these disk structures in the form of dark rings are almost certainly the result of the formation of planets. Moreover, it is surprising that the presence of a fairly massive protoplanetary disk is not typical for such young stars.
The image shows a comparison of the sizes of the protoplanetary disk of the HL Tau star and the Solar system. Although the star itself is much smaller than the Sun, the radius of its disk is three times larger than the distance from the Sun to Neptune.
In the visible spectrum, the star is hidden from the observer by a massive cloud of gas and dust, however, thanks to the telescope's capabilities in the wavelength range from 0.3 to 9.6 mm, such clear observation of objects that are in the cloud itself has become possible. The information obtained not only confirms the previously put forward hypotheses about the process of the formation of planets, but also indicates that such processes can occur much faster than expected.
UPD (@Akuji_bwn):
For reference: ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) is an international project whose goal is to build the largest astronomical observatory in Chile. On October 1, 2013, the delivery of the last, 66th antenna to the Chahnantor plateau was announced. The antennas themselves are radio telescopes with a diameter of 7 to 12 meters each. To correlate the joint operation of all antennas, a supercomputer was installed at the station, capable of performing 17 quadrillion operations per second.
Source: ALMA Observatory site .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/362681/
All Articles