ESO, Archives

This image of R Leporis, a star in the final stages of its evolution, is the highest resolution image ever achieved with ALMA. It has an angular resolution of 5 milli-arcseconds, equivalent to seeing a 10-metre-long bus on the Moon. It was achieved using the ALMA Band 10 (high-frequency) receivers and an array configuration with a maximum baseline length of 16 km, as well as a novel calibration technique. Submillimeter-wave emission from the stellar surface is shown in orange and hydrogen cyanide maser emissions at 891 GHz are shown in blue. The observations show that the star is surrounded by a ring-like structure of gas and that gas from the star is escaping to the surrounding space. Mass loss from AGB stars builds up a circumstellar envelope (CSE) rich in molecules and dust. In using different molecular species we can probe the CSE, and therefore the mass-loss process, at different radii from the central stars. Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is one of the most abundant molecules in carbon-rich CSEs and is known to exhibit maser action in many transitions in the (sub)millimeter domain. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Y. Asaki et al. Larger imagery

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

R Leporis – Surrounded By A Cloud Of Carbon Compounds – As Imaged By ALMA

by Keith CowingDecember 29, 2023December 29, 2023

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner, has achieved the highest resolution observations since it began operations.

Schematic of the observing routine on Jupiter by VLT/ESPRESSO on the 22 July 2019. The small circles represent the FOV of the fibre proportional to the size of Jupiter’s disk in the context of these observations (0.5 arc seconds in diameter for the size of the FOV), and their respective labels. We also included a grid to tentatively map the relative position of each observing position in latitude and longitude. Grid lines have intervals of 15∘ on both coordinates. The solid black line on the right side of the spherical grid represents the morning terminator, while the blue dotted line marks the location of the 12 h local time meridian. The picture of the planet’s disk was taken from the Planetary Virtual Observatory and Laboratory. Picture credits go to Gary Walker.

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Jupiter, Press Release

Comparative Exolanetology: Jupiter Targeted By VLT/ESPRESSO Exoplanet Hunter

by Keith CowingDecember 26, 2023December 26, 2023

For the first time, an instrument to find planets light years away was used on an object in the Solar System, in a study on Jupiter’s winds.

This artist’s impression shows the HH 1177 system, which is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighbouring galaxy of our own. The young and massive stellar object glowing in the centre is collecting matter from a dusty disc while also expelling matter in powerful jets. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner, a team of astronomers managed to find evidence for the presence of this disc by observing its rotation. This is the first time a disc around a young star — the type of disc identical to those forming planets in our own galaxy — has been discovered in another galaxy. CREDIT ESO/M. Kornmesser

Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release

Astronomers Discover A Disc Around A Star In Another Galaxy For The First Time

by Keith CowingNovember 30, 2023November 30, 2023

In a remarkable discovery, astronomers have found a disc around a young star in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy neighbouring ours. It’s the first time such a disc, identical […]

Astrochemistry, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Learning More About The Source Of The Water In Our Solar System

by Keith CowingMarch 10, 2023March 10, 2023

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have detected gaseous water in the planet-forming disc around the star V883 Orionis. This water carries a chemical signature that explains the […]

Astrochemistry

Dimethyl Ether Detected In A Planet-Forming Disc

by Keith CowingMarch 9, 2022

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, researchers at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands have for the first time detected dimethyl ether in a planet-forming disc. With nine […]

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets

A Rocky Exoplanet Has Just Half The Mass Of Venus

by Keith CowingAugust 5, 2021

A team of astronomers have used the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile to shed new light on planets around a nearby star, L 98-59, that […]

Press Release, Venus

Possible Marker Of Life Spotted On Venus

by Keith CowingSeptember 14, 2020

An international team of astronomers today announced the discovery of a rare molecule — phosphine — in the clouds of Venus. On Earth, this gas is only made industrially or […]

Astrochemistry, Press Release

The Interstellar Thread Of Phosphorous, One Of Life's Building Blocks

by Keith CowingJanuary 15, 2020

Phosphorus, present in our DNA and cell membranes, is an essential element for life as we know it. But how it arrived on the early Earth is something of a […]

Barnard's Star, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release

A Super-Earth Has Been Discovered Orbiting Barnard's Star

by Keith CowingNovember 14, 2018October 1, 2024

The nearest single star to the Sun hosts an exoplanet at least 3.2 times as massive as Earth — a so-called super-Earth. One of the largest observing campaigns to date […]

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release

Closest Temperate World Orbiting A Quiet Star Discovered

by Keith CowingNovember 15, 2017

A team working with ESO’s High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) at the La Silla Observatory in Chile has found that the red dwarf star Ross 128 is orbited […]