ALMA Archives

Left: Qϕ image of WRAY 15-1880 obtained from the SPHERE polarimetric data. The red dot at the center of the image marks the position of the star; the dashed white circle is the size of the coronagraph used in this observation. The dotted straight lines mark the major and minor axes, as obtained by Curone et al. (2025). Right: similar image, but projected on the disk plane (i “ 39.22 deg) and rotated to have the major axis vertical and the minor axis horizontal. On this plane, the coronagraphic mask is an ellipse represented by the white dashed line. The yellow circle has a radius of 214.1 mas that is the peak of the disk as determined by the ALMA data (see Section 3.3.2). The center of this circle has been offset by 37 mas along the minor axis, to fit the outer contour of the observed disk East of the star, that is the closest side of the disk. The red solid circle (radius of 110 mas) fits the feature seen north of the star. The position of the planet discussed in Section 3.2 at the epoch of the SPHERE polarimetric observation is marked with a small white circle, and its orbit is shown as magenta circle. -- astro-ph.SR

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Analysis Of The Young Disk Around WRAY 15-1880: Does It Contain A Primitive Planetary System?

by Keith CowingJune 11, 2026June 11, 2026

Observations of (giant) planets accreting material within their natal environment are crucial to constrain models for their formation.

Collection of disks with localized asymmetries in the dust continuum emission, shown at the same spatial scale based on the Gaia DR3 parallax. The colorscale is chosen arbitrarily to highlight the substructures. These images were presented in Ragusa et al. (2021) (IRAS 04158+2805), McLachlan et al. (2026) (AT Pyx), Pinilla et al. (2022) (LkHa 330), Francis & van der Marel (2020) (HD 34282), Vioque et al. (2026) (HD 97048, J16070854), Isella et al. (2018) (HD 163296), Hashimoto et al. (2021a) (ZZ Tau IRS), Norfolk et al. (2021) (RY Lup), Benisty et al. (2021) (PDS70), P´erez et al. (2018) (HD 143006), Dong et al. (2018) (MWC 758), Zagaria et al. (2025) (CQ Tau), Gonz´alez-Ruilova et al. (2020) (ISO-Oph 2), Long et al. (2018a) (CIDA 9), and Kurtovic et al. (2021) (MHO 6). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release, Stellar Cartography

An Archival Summary: 15 Years Of ALMA Observations On Disks And Planet Formation

by Keith CowingJune 9, 2026June 9, 2026

The Atacama Large (sub-)millimeter Array (ALMA) has been in scientific operations for almost 15 years.

Hierarchical clustering of the molecular cores based on the abundance ratios HN13C/HC3N, H13CO+/HC3N, and HC17O+/HC3N. Top panel: dendrogram obtained using Ward’s method. The vertical axis represents the Ward distance, which quantifies the chemical dissimilarity between cores. The horizontal dashed line indicates the adopted linkage-distance cut. The x-axis labels denote the core numbering. Bottom panels: mean abundance ratios of HN13

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

Simple Cyanides and Formylium Ions Isotopologues in Early Star-forming Molecular Cores

by Keith CowingJune 8, 2026June 10, 2026

Understanding the chemistry related to the early stages of star formation is of great importance, as it is linked to the beginnings of the most complex chemistry in the interstellar […]

Upper left panel: Moment 0 map of HC3N emission. Top center panels: Channel maps of the HC3N line; selected velocity channels are shown to highlight the Keplerian rotation of the disk. Bottom panel: Matched filter response spectrum for the full spectral window containing the HC3N J = 12-11 transition. The red dashed line marks the expected rest frequency of HC5N J = 41-40. -- astro-ph.SR

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

First Detection of HC5N in a Class II Disk around TW Hya

by Keith CowingJune 8, 2026June 10, 2026

Over the last decade of ALMA’s operation the molecular inventory of protoplanetary disks has expanded rapidly, revealing a diverse set of nitrogen-bearing organics and carbon-chain molecules that trace both prebiotic […]

Moment-zero maps for all of the Lupus and Upper Sco sources. The grayscale panels represent non-detections. No H2CO data was available for Upper Sco 6 and for the p-4-3 line for Lupus 6, Upper Sco 9, and Upper Sco 10. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

The ALMA Survey of Gas Evolution of PROtoplanetary Disks (AGE-PRO): Formaldehyde (H2CO) Emission And Its Links To Disk Properties

by Keith CowingJune 7, 2026June 7, 2026

Protoplanetary disks are rotating structures of gas and dust surrounding young stars, serving as the birth places of planets. Understanding the chemical evolution of organic materials in these disks is […]

Simulation of a planet embedded in a protoplanetary disc, causing disc material to pile up in a ring exterior to its orbit – Credit: Amena Faruqi / University of Warwick Credit Amena Faruqi / University of Warwick

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Stellar Cartography

Weighing Newborn Planets Using Their Dusty Fingerprints

by Keith CowingMay 29, 2026May 29, 2026

A team of astronomers, led by University of Warwick in collaboration with researchers at MIT and McMaster, have developed a novel method to use the properties of dust rings around […]

Different faces of the dying star W Hydrae seen in different molecular lines with ALMA. Shown here are 30 faces out of 57 images in total. Credit: K. Ohnaka – N. Lira – ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) Larger imagery

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release, Stellar Cartography

Astrochemistry: ALMA Reveals 57 Faces Of A Dying Star

by Keith CowingMay 29, 2026May 29, 2026

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have obtained detailed radio images of a dying star’s atmosphere, revealing a remarkably complex and dynamic environment rich in chemical diversity.

Integrated flux for ALMA’s CO(3-2) line measurement. Superposed as black circles on Neptune’s map are the beam positions observed onto the planet and used for the spatially resolved retrievals. The filled red circle in the lower-left corner indicates the size and orientation of the beam. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Ice Giant, Neptune, Status Report

Latitudinal Variations In Neptune’s Temperature Profile Observed With ALMA

by Keith CowingMay 26, 2026May 26, 2026

Despite the low solar irradiation it receives, Neptune shows a very active atmosphere with some of the most intense dynamics observed in Solar System atmospheres. Characterizing the atmospheric temperature profiles […]

PPV plot of the (sub)millimeter HCN-to-HCO+ flux ratios at J=2–1, J=3–2, and J=4–3, with a velocity resolution of 20 km s−1 and a pixel scale of 0. ′′02 pixel−1 for IRAS 00091−0738. The HCN-to-HCO+ flux ratios are calculated in brightness temperature (K). (This is virtually identical to the ratio in flux density (Jy ∝ K × ν 2 ), because the HCN and HCO+ frequencies differ only by a factor of ∼1.006 at the same J transition.) Only data with >3σ detections in emission for both the HCN and HCO+ lines are plotted. The color bar corresponds to 0.285 (blue) to 3.5 (pink) in the same way as Nishimura et al. (2024). Left: All >3σ-detected data. Center : Data with the top 10% ratios. Right: Data with ratios >1.5. East is to the left and west is to the right along the ∆α axis. North is farther and south is nearer along the ∆δ axis. -- astro-ph.GA

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Spectrally And Spatially Resolved (sub)millimeter HCN-to-HCO+ Flux Ratios In Nearby Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies

by Keith CowingMay 12, 2026May 12, 2026

We present the results of our investigations of spectrally and spatially resolved (sub)millimeter HCN-to-HCO+ flux ratios at J=2-1, J=3-2, and/or J=4-3 in 18 nearby (z< 0.15) ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs), […]

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Press Release

Kick-off Of Feasibility Study For A New Generation Of European ALMA Receivers

by Keith CowingApril 28, 2026April 28, 2026

On 13 April 2026, ESO held the kick-off meeting for the Feasibility Study for a new generation of European ALMA receivers covering the 125–211 GHz band (ESO-654032) at the INAF-OAS […]

ALMA

Analysis Of The Young Disk Around WRAY 15-1880: Does It Contain A Primitive Planetary System?

An Archival Summary: 15 Years Of ALMA Observations On Disks And Planet Formation

Simple Cyanides and Formylium Ions Isotopologues in Early Star-forming Molecular Cores

First Detection of HC5N in a Class II Disk around TW Hya

The ALMA Survey of Gas Evolution of PROtoplanetary Disks (AGE-PRO): Formaldehyde (H2CO) Emission And Its Links To Disk Properties

Weighing Newborn Planets Using Their Dusty Fingerprints

Astrochemistry: ALMA Reveals 57 Faces Of A Dying Star

Latitudinal Variations In Neptune’s Temperature Profile Observed With ALMA

Spectrally And Spatially Resolved (sub)millimeter HCN-to-HCO+ Flux Ratios In Nearby Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies

Kick-off Of Feasibility Study For A New Generation Of European ALMA Receivers

Can AI Detect Life? Lessons From Artificial Life

Electron Irradiation And Temperature-programmed Desorption Of Layered Ethanolamine-water-methanol Ices

Delayed Methane Detection in 3I/ATLAS: GCR-Driven Subsurface Stratification and Interstellar Exposure Age Constraints

Faithful Neural Embeddings For 3D Exoplanet Climate Modeling

Multiband Color Monitoring of 3I/ATLAS Through Ground-Based Relay Observations