Artist's impression of a dusty disc closely encircling a massive baby star. Astronomers have been able to obtain the first image of such a disc, providing direct evidence that massive stars do form in the same way as their smaller brethren — and closing an enduring debate. The flared disc extends to about 130 times the Earth–Sun distance — or astronomical units (AU) — and has a mass similar to that of the star, roughly twenty times the Sun. In addition, the inner parts of the disc are shown to be devoid of dust.
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser
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Artist's Impressions of Space »1«
(51 items)list by Anautix
Published 10 years, 8 months ago
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