Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) /Balsalobre-Ruza et al.

This image, taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner, shows the young planetary system PDS 70, located nearly 400 light-years away from Earth. The system features a star at its centre, around which the planet PDS 70b is orbiting. On the same orbit as PDS 70b, astronomers have detected a cloud of debris that could be the building blocks of a new planet or the remnants of one already formed. The ring-like structure that dominates the image is a circumstellar disc of material, out of which planets are forming. There is in fact another planet in this system: PDS 70c, seen at 3 o’clock right next to the inner rim of the disc.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso2311b/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, None, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License