The Sky Tonight

March 12, 2014

Crashing Comets Explain Surprise Gas Clump Around Young Star
Santiago, Chile (SPX) Mar 11, 2014
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope in northern Chile have today announced the discovery of an unexpected clump of carbon monoxide gas in the dusty disc around the star Beta Pictoris. This is a surprise, as such gas is expected to be rapidly destroyed by starlight. Something - probably frequent collisions between small, icy objects such as comets - must be causing the gas to be continuously replenished. The new results are published today in the jour ... read more

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