ALMA tagged posts

Re-Making Planets after Star-Death

1. Data at wavelength of 0.45 mm, combined from SCUBA and SCUBA-2, in a false-colour image. The Geminga pulsar (inside the black circle) is moving towards the upper left, and the orange dashed arc and cylinder show the ‘bow-wave’ and a ‘wake’. The region shown is 1.3 light-years across; the bow-wave probably stretches further behind Geminga, but SCUBA imaged only the 0.4 light-years in the centre. Credit: Jane Greaves / JCMT / EAO. 2. Sketch of the nebula formed by a wind of electrons and positrons coming from the pulsar, and the interaction with interstellar gas. Geminga crossed the plane of the Galaxy (off to the bottom right) around 100,000 years ago. It is thought that the supernova explosion was not symmetric, causing the remnant to recoil at around 200 km per second from its birth location. Credit: Jane Greaves / University of Cardiff.

1. Data at wavelength of 0.45 mm, combined from SCUBA and SCUBA-2, in a false-colour image. The Geminga pulsar (inside the black circle) is moving towards the upper left, and the orange dashed arc and cylinder show the ‘bow-wave’ and a ‘wake’. The region shown is 1.3 light-years across; the bow-wave probably stretches further behind Geminga, but SCUBA imaged only the 0.4 light-years in the centre. Credit: Jane Greaves / JCMT / EAO. 2. Sketch of the nebula formed by a wind of electrons and positrons coming from the pulsar, and the interaction with interstellar gas. Geminga crossed the plane of the Galaxy (off to the bottom right) around 100,000 years ago...

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Astronomers observe a Dying Red Giant Star’s Final Act

This is a molecular gas around star LL Pegasi. Credit: ALMA, Hyosun Kim

This is a molecular gas around star LL Pegasi. Credit: ALMA, Hyosun Kim

Using a powerful telescope, scientists view spiral pattern of gaseous emissions around LL Pegasi and its companion star. An international team of astronomers has observed a striking spiral pattern in the gas surrounding a red giant star named LL Pegasi and its companion star 3,400 light-years from Earth using ALMA. “What we are seeing in splendid detail with these observations is the final act of a dying red giant star, as it sheds most of its gaseous bulk in a strong, outflowing wind,” said Mark Morris, UCLA professor of physics and astronomy.

After comparing their telescopic observations with computer simulations, the astronomers concluded that a highly elliptical orbit is responsible for the shape of the gaseous emi...

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First look at Birthplaces of most current stars

Radio/Optical combination images of distant galaxies as seen with NSF's Very Large Array and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Their distances from Earth are indicated in the top set of images. Below, the same images, without labels. Credit: K. Trisupatsilp, NRAO/AUI/NSF, NASA.

Radio/Optical combination images of distant galaxies as seen with NSF’s Very Large Array and NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Their distances from Earth are indicated in the top set of images. Below, the same images, without labels. Credit: K. Trisupatsilp, NRAO/AUI/NSF, NASA.

Highly sensitive images reveal details of distant galaxies. Astronomers have gotten their first look at exactly where most of today’s stars were born. To do so, they used the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) and Atacama Large Millimeter/ submillimeter Array (ALMA) to look at distant galaxies seen as they were some 10 billion years ago. At that time, the Universe was experiencing its peak rate of star formation. Most stars in the present Universe were born then.

“We knew that galaxies in that era were forming sta...

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ALMA Explores the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: Deepest ever millimeter observations of early Universe

A trove of galaxies, rich in carbon monoxide (indicating star-forming potential) were imaged by ALMA (orange) in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The blue features are galaxies imaged by Hubble. This image is based on the very deep ALMA survey by Manuel Aravena, Fabian Walter and colleagues, covering about one sixth of the full HUDF area. Credit: B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF); ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); NASA/ESA Hubble

A trove of galaxies, rich in carbon monoxide (indicating star-forming potential) were imaged by ALMA (orange) in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The blue features are galaxies imaged by Hubble. This image is based on the very deep ALMA survey by Manuel Aravena, Fabian Walter and colleagues, covering about one sixth of the full HUDF area. Credit: B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF); ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); NASA/ESA Hubble

International teams used ALMA to explore the distant corner of the Universe first revealed in the iconic images of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF). These new ALMA observations are significantly deeper and sharper than previous surveys at millimetre wavelengths. They clearly show how the rate of star formation in young galaxies is closely related to their total mass in stars...

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