SPHERE images of the AB Aurigae system (side by side)

Images of the AB Aurigae system showing the disc around it. The image on the right, a zoomed-in version of the central part of the image on the left, shows the inner region of the disc. This inner region includes the ‘twist’ (in very bright yellow) that scientists believe marks the spot where a planet is forming. This twist lies at about the same distance from the AB Aurigae star as Neptune from the Sun.

The images were obtained with the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in polarised light.