August 23, 2016

Artist's concept of G11.92-0.61 MM1 with the keplerian disc around it (Image courtesy A. Smith (Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge))

An article published in the journal “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society” describes the discovery of a protostar called G11.92-0.61 MM1. A team of astronomers led by John Ilee from the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, UK, identified this object in a key stage in the birth of a star. It has a mass that is already more than thirty times that of the Sun and is still attracting materials from the molecular cloud in which it’s forming.