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ALMA Discovers Misaligned Rings in Planet-Forming Disk Around Triple Stars

ALMA Discovers Misaligned Rings in Planet-Forming Disk Around Triple Stars

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), two teams of astronomers have for the first time discovered a planet-forming disk with misaligned rings around a triple star system, called GW Orionis. The astronomers give two possible scenarios for the misalignment: either the disk was torn apart by the gravitational pull from the...

ALMA Discovers Massive Rotating Disk in Early Universe

ALMA Discovers Massive Rotating Disk in Early Universe

In our 13.8 billion-year-old universe, most galaxies like our Milky Way form gradually, reaching their large mass relatively late. But a new discovery made with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)  of a massive rotating disk galaxy, seen when the universe was only ten percent of its current age, challenges the traditional...

The Strange Orbits of ‘Tatooine’ Planetary Disks

The Strange Orbits of ‘Tatooine’ Planetary Disks

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)  have found striking orbital geometries in protoplanetary disks around binary stars. While disks orbiting the most compact binary star systems share very nearly the same plane, disks encircling wide binaries have orbital planes that are severely tilted. These systems...

ALMA Reveals Unusual Composition of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov

ALMA Reveals Unusual Composition of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov

2I/Borisov likely formed in extremely cold environment, high amounts of carbon monoxide show A galactic visitor entered our solar system last year – interstellar comet 2I/Borisov. When astronomers pointed the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) toward the comet on 15 and 16 December 2019, for the first time they directly observed...