The universe still holds many things that continue to fascinate astronomers and amateur stargazers alike. It still has many mysteries that need answers, or simply wonders that just amaze people. One of these wonders has recently been seen, when a binary star system was found with planets forming around it.
Researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute have discovered the binary star system using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, according to Phys Org. The stars are still young, around 100,000-200,000 years old and are 400 light years away from the Earth.
Christian Brinch, assistant professor for the research group Astrophysics and Planetary Science and the Niels Bohr International Academy at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen, said that the binary star system consists of two newly formed stars and rotating gas discs. The stars are the size of the Sun while the gas discs are the size of the Solar System.
It is not clear if planet formation has started around the stars, as Science Daily reported, since the gas discs also have dust that obscures much of the view. However the gas discs can be observed themselves, and this is what astronomers are focusing on.
"What we can observe is the gas itself, because the molecules are excited by the heat from stars and therefore emit light in the infrared and microwave range," Brinch explained. Aside from the two planet-forming discs around each star, a much larger disc is shared by both stars. The stars and the discs are in a jumbled manner that it is speculated the stars' formation might be turbulent.
The researchers will use computer simulations to know how the binary star system formed along with its discs. They also plan to have more time with the ALMA telescope in order to get better resolution images of the star system as well as get more information about it. The binary star system has been designated as IRS 43.
A binary star system has also been reported earlier in a previous iTechPost article.
