Gas spheres from star puzzle astronomers
Posted: Thu, May 17, 2001, 10:04 AM ET (1404 GMT)
Astronomers reported Wednesday that a young star is ejecting spheres of gas in a manner not predicted by any model of star formation. Data collected by the Very Large Baseline Array (VLBA), a network of radio telescopes extending across North America, show that a young star 2,000 light-years away is surrounded by a sphere of gas 50% larger than the Solar System that is expanding outward at over 30,000 kmph. The VLBA data also shows signs of an older sphere of gas that is being overtaken by a younger, faster-moving one. While models of stellar formation predict that young stars will eject mass, those models predict the mass will be ejected in twin jets from the poles of the star, not in the spheres seen in the VLBA data. "We don't yet understand how this can happen, so we have an exciting new scientific challenge," said Spanish astronomer Guillem Anglada. The observations were published in the May 17 issue of the journal Nature.
Astronomers reported Wednesday that a young star is ejecting spheres of gas in a manner not predicted by any model of star formation. Data collected by the Very Large Baseline Array (VLBA), a network of radio telescopes extending across North America, show that a young star 2,000 light-years away is surrounded by a sphere of gas 50% larger than the Solar System that is expanding outward at over 30,000 kmph. The VLBA data also shows signs of an older sphere of gas that is being overtaken by a younger, faster-moving one. While models of stellar formation predict that young stars will eject mass, those models predict the mass will be ejected in twin jets from the poles of the star, not in the spheres seen in the VLBA data. "We don't yet understand how this can happen, so we have an exciting new scientific challenge," said Spanish astronomer Guillem Anglada. The observations were published in the May 17 issue of the journal Nature.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Sunday, October 19
Greedy black hole feeds via two spiral arms
Netherlands Research School for Astronomy — 12:39 pm ET (1639 GMT) Kymeta Selected As Multi-Orbit SATCOM Provider For U.S. Army’s NGC2 Pilot
Kymeta — 12:37 pm ET (1637 GMT) Solstar Space Signs $15 Million Global Agreement with Momentus
Solstar Space Co. — 12:36 pm ET (1636 GMT) ANT61 Signs LOI with Lumir
Space and Defense — 12:36 pm ET (1636 GMT) TracPlus and OroraTech Launch First-of-Its-Kind Two-Way Data Integration to Accelerate Wildfire Decision-Making
OroraTech — 12:35 pm ET (1635 GMT) |
