ALMA and SPHERE view of GW Orionis (superimposed)
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. This composite image shows both the ALMA and SPHERE observations of the disc.
The ALMA image shows the disc’s ringed structure, with the innermost ring (part of which is visible as an oblong dot at the very centre of the image) separated from the rest of the disc. The SPHERE observations 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:ESO/Exeter/Kraus et al., ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)
About the Image
Id: | eso2014c |
Type: | Observation |
Release date: | 3 September 2020, 20:00 |
Related releases: | eso2014 |
Size: | 754 x 754 px |
About the Object
Name: | GW Orionis |
Type: | Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Triple Milky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Disk : Protoplanetary |
Constellation: | Orion |
Category: | Stars |
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 5 29 8.39 |
Position (Dec): | 11° 52' 12.65" |
Field of view: | 0.05 x 0.05 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is -0.0° left of vertical |
Colours & filters
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
Infrared H | 1.625 μm | Very Large Telescope SPHERE |
Millimeter 12CO(J = 2 → 1) | 1.3 mm | Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Band 6 |