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Revolutionary ALMA Image Reveals Planetary Genesis
eso1436 — Photo Release
6 November 2014

Click to view full size image

Click to view full size image

This new image from ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, reveals extraordinarily fine detail that has never been seen before in the planet-forming disc around a young star. These are the first observations that have used ALMA in its near-final configuration and the sharpest pictures ever made at submillimetre wavelengths. The new results are an enormous step forward in the observation of how protoplanetary discs develop and how planets form.

For ALMA’s first observations in its new and most powerful mode, researchers pointed the antennas at HL Tauri — a young star, about 450 light-years away, which is surrounded by a dusty disc. The resulting image exceeds all expectations and reveals unexpectedly fine detail in the disc of material left over from star birth. It shows a series of concentric bright rings, separated by gaps.
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Image Credits: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); C. Brogan, B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF)

It looks like an artist’s illustration, but it’s a real image and it lets us glimpse the process by which planets are born in orbit around their stars.

Even for most astronomy enthusiasts, it can be tricky sometimes to distinguish between artist’s illustrations and real images, in part because the artist’s illustrations have gotten so good and so plentiful in recent years. And so one question we’re frequently asked: “Is this a real image?” The image at the top of this post may look at first glance like an artist’s illustration. But it’s not. It’s a real image of a planet-forming disk around the infant star, in this case a sunlike star approximately 450 light-years from Earth, known to astronomers as HL Tau. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile has recently been upgraded to obtain such sharp images. Its North American managers at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) say this image is:

… the best image ever of planet formation around an infant star…

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

Image credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA
Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

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The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has snapped a striking view of a multiple star system called XZ Tauri, its neighbour HL Tauri, and several nearby young stellar objects. XZ Tauri is blowing a hot bubble of gas into the surrounding space, which is filled with bright and beautiful clumps that are emitting strong winds and jets. These objects illuminate the region, creating a truly dramatic scene.

This dark and ominous landscape is located some 450 light-years away in the constellation of Taurus (The Bull). It lies in the north-eastern part of a large, dark cloud known as LDN 1551.

Just to the left of centre in this image, embedded within a rust-coloured cloud, lies XZ Tauri. While it appears to be a single star, this bright spot actually consists of several stars. It has long been known to be a binary, but one of these two stars is thought also to be a binary, making a total of three stars within a single system. ...

Above and to the right of XZ Tauri, an equally epic scene is unfolding. Wisps of deep red seem to be streaking away from the blue-tinged clumps on the right. This bright blue patch contains a star known as HL Tauri, which is associated with Herbig-Haro object HH 150. Herbig-Haro objects are streaks of hot gas blasted into space by newborn and newly forming stars and LDN 1551 is particularly rich in these dramatic objects. ...

A version of this image was entered into the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Judy Schmidt, and won third prize.

MargaritaMc wrote:
Revolutionary ALMA Image Reveals Planetary Genesis
eso1436 — Photo Release — 6 November 2014

Astronomers have captured the best image ever of planet formation around an infant star as part of the testing and verification process for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array’s (ALMA) new high-resolution capabilities.

This revolutionary new image reveals in astonishing detail the planet-forming disk surrounding HL Tau, a Sun-like star located approximately 450 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus.

ALMA uncovered never-before-seen features in this system, including multiple concentric rings separated by clearly defined gaps. These structures suggest that planet formation is already well underway around this remarkably young star.

"These features are almost certainly the result of young planet-like bodies that are being formed in the disk. This is surprising since HL Tau is no more than a million years old and such young stars are not expected to have large planetary bodies capable of producing the structures we see in this image," said ALMA Deputy Director Stuartt Corder. ...

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