Protoplanetary disk

ALMA was used to observe VLA1623, a triple protostellar system located in the rho Ophiuchus star-forming cloud [2]. A disk structure was observed towards VLA1623A, a very young source still wrapped in its cocoon of dust and gas. Thanks to ALMA’s capabilities, analysis of the gas in the disk revealed its motion to be Keplerian and to have a radius of roughly 5 times the radius of Neptune’s orbit [3], but with a central protostar mass of only 0.2 times our Sun’s mass. This shows that the protostar is still very young and growing.

Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)