{"id":22672,"date":"2020-09-03T14:00:33","date_gmt":"2020-09-03T18:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=22672"},"modified":"2020-09-02T16:52:32","modified_gmt":"2020-09-02T20:52:32","slug":"eso-planetary-disc-warped-and-distorted-in-three-star-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=22672","title":{"rendered":"ESO: Planetary disc warped and distorted in three star system"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new report from ESO<\/a> (European Southern Observatory):<\/p>\n

New Observations Show Planet-forming Disc Torn Apart
\nby its Three Central Stars<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
ALMA, in which ESO is a partner, and the SPHERE instrument on ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope have imaged GW Orionis, a triple star system with a peculiar inner region. The new observations revealed that this object has a warped planet-forming disc with a misaligned ring. In particular, the SPHERE image (right panel) allowed astronomers to see, for the first time, the shadow that this ring casts on the rest of the disc. This helped them figure out the 3D shape of the ring and the overall disc. The left panel shows an artistic impression of the inner region of the disc, including the ring, which is based on the 3D shape reconstructed by the team.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A team of astronomers have identified the first direct evidence that groups of stars can tear apart their planet-forming disc, leaving it warped and with tilted rings. This new research suggests exotic planets, not unlike Tatooine in Star Wars, may form in inclined rings in bent discs around multiple stars. The results were made possible thanks to observations with the European Southern Observatory\u2019s Very Large Telescope (ESO\u2019s VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array (ALMA).<\/p>\n

Our Solar System is remarkably flat, with the planets all orbiting in the same plane. But this is not always the case, especially for planet-forming discs around multiple stars, like the object of the new study: GW Orionis. This system, located just over 1300 light-years away in the constellation of Orion, has three stars and a deformed, broken-apart disc surrounding them.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur images reveal an extreme case where the disc is not flat at all, but is warped and has a misaligned ring that has broken away from the disc,<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

says Stefan Kraus, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Exeter in the UK who led the research published today in the journal Science<\/em>. The misaligned ring is located in the inner part of the disc, close to the three stars.<\/p>\n