A planet and its Trojan orbiting a star in the PDS 70 system (annotated)
This image, taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner, shows the young planetary system PDS 70, located nearly 400 light-years away from Earth. The system features a star at its centre, around which the planet PDS 70b (highlighted with a solid yellow circle) is orbiting. On the same orbit as PDS 70b, indicated by a solid yellow ellipse, astronomers have detected a cloud of debris (circled by a yellow dotted line) that could be the building blocks of a new planet or the remnants of one already formed. The ring-like structure that dominates the image is a circumstellar disc of material, out of which planets are forming. There is in fact another planet in this system: PDS 70c, seen at 3 o’clock right next to the inner rim of the disc.
Credit:ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) /Balsalobre-Ruza et al.
About the Image
Id: | eso2311a |
Type: | Chart |
Release date: | 19 July 2023, 14:00 |
Related releases: | eso2311 |
Size: | 1228 x 1228 px |
About the Object
Name: | PDS 70 |
Type: | Milky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Disk : Protoplanetary |
Category: | Exoplanets |