Animation of the disc and jet in the HH 1177 young star

This artist's animation shows the HH 1177 system, a young and massive stellar object located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighbouring galaxy to our own. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner, a team of astronomers managed to catch sight of a disc in HH 1177 by observing its rotation, as animated in this artist’s impression. This is the first time astronomers have found a disc around a young star in another galaxy, the type of disc identical to those forming planets in our own galaxy. The star glowing in the centre is collecting matter from a dusty disc while also expelling matter in powerful jets.