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    ALMA tagged posts

    First-ever detection of ‘heavy water’ in a planet-forming disk

    October 16, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This artist’s impression shows the evolution of heavy water molecules (H2O, HDO, and D2O) as they have been observed in giant molecular clouds, a planet forming-disk, and comets—before they eventually may have made their way to Earth.
    Credit: NSF/AUI/NSF NRAO/P. Vosteen, B. Saxton

    The discovery of ancient water in a planet-forming disk reveals that some of the water found in comets—and maybe even Earth—is older than the disk’s star itself, offering breakthrough insights into the history of water in our solar system.

    Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have made a first-ever detection of doubly deuterated water (D₂O, or “heavy water”) in a planet-forming disk around V883 Ori, a young star...

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    JWST may have found the Universe’s first stars powered by dark matter

    October 16, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope hint that the universe’s first stars might not have been ordinary fusion-powered suns, but enormous “supermassive dark stars” powered by dark matter annihilation. These colossal, luminous hydrogen-and-helium spheres may explain both the existence of unexpectedly bright early galaxies and the origin of the first supermassive black holes.

    In the early universe, a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, the first stars emerged from vast, untouched clouds of hydrogen and helium. Recent observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) suggest that some of these early stars may have been unlike the familiar (nuclear fusion-powered) stars that astronomers have studied for centuries...

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    Warped planet nurseries rewrite the rules of how worlds are born

    September 6, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Visualisation of the warped disc around the young star MWC 758, with warping exaggerated by a factor four to make it visible. Both panels show properties of the disc inferred from CO emission. On the left-hand side, we see deviations in the line-of-sight velocity from the expected rotation if the disc were flat. The variations in velocity can be used to infer the warp structure. On the right-hand side we see variations in the gas temperature, from which we can see evidence of shadowing in areas of the disc. Credit: A. Winter

    New ALMA observations reveal that the discs where planets form are often slightly warped, challenging long-held assumptions and offering clues about the subtle misalignments seen in our own Solar System.

    Astronomers using ALMA have discovered that planet-forming...

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    Astronomers uncover enormous bubble bigger than our Solar System

    August 26, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Colourful clouds of gas against a dark background - a huge bubble ejected from a supergiant star thousands of years ago
    The vast bubble around red supergiant star DFK 52, imaged by Alma. Red colours indicate gas moving away from us, blue denotes gas moving toward us. Credit: ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. Siebert et al.

    A giant bubble of gas and dust surrounds the red supergiant DFK 52, likely created in a powerful outburst 4,000 years ago. Astronomers are baffled at how the star survived without going supernova, and suspect a hidden companion may have played a role. This discovery could reveal clues about the final stages of massive stars.

    Astronomers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have discovered a vast and expanding bubble of gas and dust surrounding a red supergiant star – the largest structure of its kind ever seen in the Milky Way...

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