A Cosmic Pretzel
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) captured this unprecedented image of two circumstellar disks, in which baby stars are growing, feeding with material from their surrounding birth disk. The complex network of dust structures distributed in spiral shapes remind of the loops of a pretzel. These observations shed new light on the earliest phases of the lives of stars and help astronomers determine the conditions in which binary stars are born.
Credit:ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Alves et al.
About the Image
| Id: | eso1916a |
| Type: | Observation |
| Release date: | 4 October 2019, 10:00 |
| Related releases: | eso1916 |
| Size: | 1881 x 1371 px |
About the Object
| Name: | [BHB2007] 11 |
| Type: | Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Star Formation |
| Constellation: | Ophiuchus |
| Category: | Stars |
Wallpapers
Coordinates
| Position (RA): | 17 11 23.11 |
| Position (Dec): | -27° 24' 32.88" |
| Field of view: | 0.03 x 0.02 arcminutes |
| Orientation: | North is -0.0° left of vertical |
View in WorldWide Telescope:
Colours & filters
| Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
|---|---|---|
| Millimeter H2CO | 1.3 mm | Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Band 6 |