Computer simulation of dust trap formation

6 June, 2013 / Read time: 1 minute

This computer simulation shows how a vortex can form when a massive planet is interacting with a disc around a young star. It shows how the gas density evolves when there is a planet, with a mass ten times that of Jupiter, located at 20 times the Earth-Sun distance from the central star. A large-scale vortex is created at the outer edge of the gap, which can live for more than 1000 of the planet's orbits. This vortex can trap millimeter-sized particles over million years timescales and explain the high contrast structure observed with ALMA in the disc around Oph-IRS 48.
Credit: P. Pinilla/ESO