Wednesday, 3 February 2016

The Deep-Frozen Flying Saucer - ALMA finds unexpectedly cold grains in planet-forming disc

The Deep-Frozen Flying Saucer - ALMA finds unexpectedly cold grains in planet-forming disc

Astronomers have used the ALMA and IRAM telescopes to make the first direct measurement of the temperature of the large dust grains in the outer parts of a planet-forming disc around a young star. By applying a novel technique to observations of an object nicknamed the Flying Saucer they find that the grains are much colder than expected: −266 degrees Celsius. This surprising result suggests that models of these discs may need to be revised.

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