Astronomers Spotted a Planetary Formation in the Early Stages

Many of the best space pics have come from the Hubble space telescope.  Remember, in this one it was ALMA which was responsible for the finding.  More and more telescopes are being constructed to compete with the Hubble:

The ALMA image showed details of the system in the outer portions of the disk, but in the inner portions of the disk, nearest to the young star, the thicker dust is opaque to the short radio wavelengths received by ALMA. To study this region, astronomers turned to the VLA, which receives longer wavelengths. Their VLA images show that region better than any previous studies.

The new VLA images revealed a distinct clump of dust in the inner region of the disk. The clump, the scientists said, contains roughly 3 to 8 times the mass of the Earth.

And when we say compete with the Hubble we don’t mean like a typical contest.  It is just more chances to spot something cool!

Check back for updates as they come in.

thanks to NARO for the great info

pic credit: Carrasco-Gonzalez, et al.; Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF



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