The Protoplanetary Disk of HL Tauri from ALMA
Explanation:
Why does this giant disk have gaps?
The exciting and probable answer is: planets.
A mystery is how planets massive enough to create these gaps formed so quickly, since
the
HL Tauri
star system is only about one million years old.
The picture on which the
gaps
were discovered was taken with the new
Atacama Large Millimeter Array
(
ALMA) of telescopes in
Chile.
ALMA imaged the protoplanetary disk, which spans about 1,500 light-minutes across,
in
unprecedented
detail, resolving features as small as 40 light minutes.
The low energy light used by
ALMA
was also able to peer through an intervening haze of gas and dust.
The HL Tauri system lies about 450
light
years from Earth.
Studying
HL Tauri
will likely give insight into
how our own Solar System formed and evolved.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
