Worlds with many suns

Eso_potw1906a_1024

eso_potw1906a February 11th, 2019

Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), S. Andrews et al.; NRAO/AUI/NSF, S. Dagnello

This week’s Picture of the Week highlights another of the 20 images to come out of ALMA’s first Large Program, the Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution Project (DSHARP). DSHARP explored a number of nearby protoplanetary discs to learn more about the earliest stages of planet formation, and a staggering quantity of data from the project has just been released. This object, called AS 205, is notable for being a multiple star system, one of two such systems imaged by DSHARP (the other being HT Lup). While two discs are discernible here, the lower right disc is in fact shared by two stars in a binary system, so we are actually looking at a system of three fledgling stars. Although most high-resolution studies have so far focused on single stars, multiple systems are far from uncommon in the Universe. It is thought that over half of all stars may exist in multiple systems, an estimate that may be even higher for young stars. The presence of companion stars is likely to have complex implications for a disc and its substructures. This is due to as the gravitational influence of a stellar neighbour, which may distort and redistribute the material within the disc. Data from AS 205 and HT Lup indicate that stars and their neighbouring discs interact strongly. Despite their unsettled birth environments, planets have been detected in multiple stellar systems — some orbiting just one of the stars, others orbiting the entire system. The latter are more likely to have stable orbits than the former, which get caught up in volatile interstellar dynamics.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1906a/

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

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
AS 205
Subject - Milky Way
Star > Circumstellar Material > Disk > Protoplanetary
Eso_potw1906a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 16h 11m 31.3s
DEC = -18° 38’ 26.0”
Orientation
North is up
Field of View
0.1 x 0.1 arcminutes
Constellation
Scorpius

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Orange ALMA (Band 6) Millimeter (240GHZ / 12CO J=2−1) 1.3 mm
Spectrum_ir1
Orange
Eso_potw1906a_1280
×
ID
potw1906a
Subject Category
B.3.7.2.1  
Subject Name
AS 205
Credits
ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), S. Andrews et al.; NRAO/AUI/NSF, S. Dagnello
Release Date
2019-02-11T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1906a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
Instrument
Band 6
Color Assignment
Orange
Band
Millimeter
Bandpass
240GHZ / 12CO J=2−1
Central Wavelength
1250000
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
242.880595833, -18.6405555556
Reference Dimension
1500.0, 1500.0
Reference Pixel
750.0, 750.0
Scale
-6.80634691248e-07, 6.80634691248e-07
Rotation
-0
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.org
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
None
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
potw1906a
Metadata Date
2023-10-11T09:19:08.454782
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In