Gas Waterfalls: A Flow of Gas Helps Planets Form

27 January, 2020 / Read time: 1 minute

This video presents the results of an observation using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) of the protostar HD163296, located in the constellation Sagittarius, about 330 light-years away. Along with illustrative animations of the discovery, the image of the young star obtained by the radio telescope is shown.

The survey revealed 3 forming planets orbiting the protostar and, thanks to the incredible resolution of ALMA, it was possible to observe a particular behavior of the gas in the protoplanetary disk, confirming a long-standing hypothesis about the existence of true waterfalls of gas.

Credits: National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)