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Astronomers witness the birth of a stellar triple

Many stars are single, just like our own Sun. But there are also many twins and even triples in the Universe – two or three stars that were born together and keep each other company. Using ALMA, astronomers have now witnessed the birth of a triple star system. The...

Surprising spiral pattern hints at ‘elliptical’ binary

The stunning spiral pattern in this ALMA image is produced by a binary star – two stars orbiting each other. The size and shape of the spiral provides astronomers with information about the binary’s orbit. Apparently, this orbit is not circular, but elliptical – very elongated. The spiral pattern...

Disks of dense gas feed ‘Cookie Monster’ black holes

Most galaxies have black holes in their cores. Quite often, those huge black holes are pretty quiet, like the black hole in the core of our own Milky Way galaxy. But sometimes, huge amounts of gas and dust are drawn inward. This material becomes very hot and starts to...

Planet-forming disk has lawn-sprinkler-like spiral arms

Astronomers know how planets like our own Earth were born. When the Sun was young, it was surrounded by a flat, rotating disk of gas and dust. Dust particles, pebbles, and small rocks in this protoplanetary disk slowly clumped together to form Earth-like planets. But the origin of giant...

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