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Hubble Captures a Protoplanetary Disk

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the building-heavenly-bodies dept.

Astroturtle writes "The Hubble Space Telescope's new Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) has captured a detailed image of spiral rings in a distant protoplanetary disk -- the pancake-shaped cloud of gas and dust around a young star in which planets are expected to condense. But contrary to earlier suggestions, the intricate structure of this particular disk is probably caused by a nearby companion star rather than by embedded planets starting to form."

6 of 105 comments (clear)

  1. Makes one wonder by zokum · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Every time something like this is published, makes me wonder when we'll discover extra-terrestrial life. I honestly don't think it's a question of if, it's more about what, and whether they still are around. Seti@home might not be the solution, but as with all science, one has to start somewhere :-)

    --
    Rest in peace Malin "looxn" Kristiansen. We miss you...
    1. Re:Makes one wonder by WegianWarrior · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It seems such a waste of space if we're alone... even more so if you're semi-religious as I am (I believe that science can explain most of the universe around us, but it was probaly the "great arcitect" that set it up to begin with). As we learn more about the universe and life, we may understand where and how to look for life out there.

      Life is one thing, intelligence is different. Before we all get worked up over SETI@home, why not take a look at STI@home - the search for terrestial intelligence?

      --
      Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
  2. Original Image by StingRayGun · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's nice to see the original image in this case. The color-enhanced added ones look pretty, and contribute to further exploration funding, but are often misleading.

  3. Jupiter and/or Saturn by The+Ape+With+No+Name · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Help me with my astronomy! Can we infer that the Gas giants might have helped form the inner planets if a companion mass like a star or large planet is necessary to do so? I don't know the accepted timeline/sequence of planetary formation in our system, but this kinda popped to mind.

    --
    Comparing it to Windows will be a moot point, since El Dorado is going to have a 40% larger code base than XP.
  4. Spiral form by MonkeyBoyo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    the intricate structure of this particular disk is probably caused by a nearby companion star rather than by embedded planets starting to form.

    I thought that standard opinion on spiral forms (e.g. galaxies) was that they were created by interaction with massive companions.

    Who has ever proposed that internal bodies can cause a spiral form?

  5. OT gripe about idiotic web sites by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In this particular case, as in many many others, they insist on having cookies or they serve up a finger waving page, naughty naughty me, instead of the desired page.

    What the heck is it with this infatuation with cookies? I have never been to Sky And Telescope before, there is nothing they need to remember about me, why do sites insist on even creating cookies before they are needed? Worset yet, why do they pretend they can't show any content without a cookie?

    I know cookies have their uses, I have written many websites where the cookie holds a key to db records, and I can even understand the rationale news sites using cookies for ad tracking, annoying as it is, but even news sites generally don't refuse to show the page in question just because a cookie couldn't be set.

    Yes, I will send a grip to the webmaster, but I also know it will be a waste of time.

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    Infuriate left and right