Stars

Illustration of GW Orionis's rings

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An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal Letters” reports a study of the triple system of GW Orionis, or simply GW Ori, and in particular of the interactions between the three stars that compose it and the disk of gas and dust that surrounds it, divided in three rings. A team of researchers coordinated by the Department of Physics & Astronomy of the University of Victoria, Canada, used the ALMA radio telescope to conduct the observations necessary to identify the three rings, to estimate their masses, and to discover a misalignment between them.

The protostars in IRAS 16293-2422 A

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An article accepted for publication in “The Astrophysical Journal” reports observations of a pair of protostars in a system in its formation phase cataloged as IRAS 16293-2422 A. A team of researchers from the astrochemistry group of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in Munich, Germany, used the ALMA radio telescope to study the two protostars, cataloged as A1 and A2, since it can detect the emissions not filtered by the materials that surround them, also forming the circumstellar disks from to which planets may form in the future. The two protostars are in the initial phase of their formation and are still surrounded by the molecular cloud that constitutes the source of the gas and dust that are forming them.

Proxima Centauri seen from Earth and the New Horizons space probe

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NASA has released images obtained by its New Horizons space probe during the interstellar parallax experiment conducted on April 22 / 23, 2020. The LORRI camera was aimed at Proxima Centauri and Wolf 359, two of the stars closest to the system solar, obtaining images that show how they appear in different positions from the ones we see from Earth. It’s an application of the parallax phenomenon with the apparent movement of the two stars caused by the fact that New Horizons is about 7 billion kilometers from Earth. The combination of images captured by New Horizons and an instrument on Earth shows the parallax effect, which in the future could help interstellar navigation instruments like sailors have been using the positions of stars to navigate the seas of Earth.

Some stars and planets situations

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An article published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” reports the discovery of an exoplanet candidate with a very high probability of existence, a super-Earth designated as KOI-456.04 whose estimated year is slightly longer than the Earth’s that orbits Kepler-160, a Sun-like star. A team of researchers led by René Heller of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Göttingen, Germany, analyzed old data accumulated by the Kepler space telescope using a new method based on the detailed physical model of the stellar brightness variation instead of the classic one based on the search for the tiny drops in brightness that occur when the planet passes between the star and the telescope. The analysis also led to the discovery of another exoplanet candidate designated as Kepler-160 d.

Artist's concept of W1200-7845 with its protoplanetary disk (Image NASA/William Pendrill)

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At the 236th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) held in recent days, on this occasion virtually and not in a physical place due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the discovery of the youngest brown dwarf of our cosmic neighborhood was announced. Named W1200-7845, it’s so young that it has a protoplanetary disk, a really interesting discovery because it will allow to study a possible planetary formation around an object that can be considered a failed star. This result came thanks to the Disk Detective program, which allows citizen scientists to examine astronomical images captured by NASA’s WISE space telescope, looking for protoplanetary disks. Its discovery allowed to conduct follow-up observations to study its evolution.