ALMA has captured a vast stream of gas feeding the young triple-star system GW Orionis, located about 1,300 light-years away. Stretching roughly 12,000 astronomical units (0.2 light-years), the streamer connects the surrounding molecular cloud with the system’s unusual, misaligned planet-forming rings.
The observations provide strong evidence that late infall of material from a star’s natal cloud can transfer angular momentum to a protoplanetary disk and influence its structure and evolution. The study combines observations from all three ALMA arrays and offers new insights into the dynamic environments in which planets form.
For further details, see the ALMA press release and the publication in The Astronomical Journal (DOI).
Credit- Image – Artist’s impression of a gas streamer feeding material onto the protoplanetary disk around GW Orionis and contributing to its misaligned dust rings. Credit: NSF/AUI/NSF NRAO/B. Saxton