ALMA and SPHERE view of GW Orionis (side-by-side)

ALMA, in which ESO is a partner, and the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope have imaged GW Orionis, a triple star system with a peculiar inner region. Unlike the flat planet-forming discs we see around many stars, GW Orionis features a warped disc, deformed by the movements of the three stars at its centre. The ALMA image (left) shows the disc’s ringed structure, with the innermost ring separated from the rest of the disc. The SPHERE observations (right) allowed astronomers to see for the first time the shadow of this innermost ring on the rest of the disc, which made it possible for them to reconstruct its warped shape.

Credit:

ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), ESO/Exeter/Kraus et al.

About the Image

Id:eso2014b
Type:Collage
Release date:3 September 2020, 20:00
Related releases:eso2014
Size:1576 x 795 px

About the Object

Name:GW Orionis
Type:Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Triple
Milky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Disk : Protoplanetary
Category:Stars

Image Formats

Large JPEG
186.0 KB
Screensize JPEG
81.6 KB

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Colours & filters

BandWavelengthTelescope
Infrared
H
1.625 μmVery Large Telescope
SPHERE
Millimeter
12CO(J = 2 → 1)
1.3 mmAtacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
Band 6