Documents & Resources - Search Results
Search results
Planet formation around the star TW Hydrae
image
Caption: This image shows the disk around the young star TW Hydrae. This star is only about 10 million years old, young enough that planets are still forming in a disk of gas and dust around it. This image was created using an array of submillimetre telescopes, each of which looks like a satellite dish. The signals from these telescopes were combined by a central processing computer to make this image. The lighter and darker patches show areas of the disk where there is more or less dust respectively. The dark rings and bright rings are evidence that the dust in the disk has been shepherded into some orbits and away from others. This is likely because there is one or more planets that are still forming hidden in the disk.
The whole image shows the disk around TW Hydrae out to a distance of about 70 astronomical units frm the central star. The two outer dark rings are separated from the central star by approximately the average distance between the Sun and Uranus and the average distance between the Sun and Pluto. The inner central hole appears to have been carved out by a planet orbiting TW Hydrae at a distance similar to the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
Credit: S. Andrews (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA); B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF); ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)
Credit Link
Glossary Terms:
Planet Formation
Categories:
Exoplanets & Astrobiology
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
File
( image
210.48 kB)
The planet PDS 70b inside a protoplanetary disk
image
Caption: An image of the planet PDS 70b. The young star PDS 70b has a protoplanetary disk surrounding it. Disks like these contains gas, fine sandy particles that astronomers refer to as dust and also larger bodies ranging from objects the size of pebbles to protoplanets (planets that are still forming).
This image was taken in infrared light using adaptive optics. Adaptive optics is a technique that uses flexible mirrors and computer analysis to remove the blurring effect of the Earth's atmosphere. This allows astronomers to search regions close to stars like PDS 70 that would otherwise be swamped by light from the star spread out by the Earth's atmosphere. In the center is a black circle. This is caused by a coronograph, a small circle that blocks out light from the parent star. This is surrounded by a bright oval, infrared light emitted from the material in the protoplanetary disk. To the right of the black circle covering the star is a bright dot. This is PDS 70b, a giant planet that is still forming .
Credit: ESO/ A. Müller, MPIA
Credit Link
Glossary Terms:
Planet Formation , Protoplanet , Protoplanetary Disk , Adaptive Optics
Categories:
Exoplanets & Astrobiology
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
File
( image
1.59 MB)
The Rotating Planet
video
Created for the OAE
Caption: Second place winner in the 2023 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category of Time-lapses of rotation of Big Dipper or Southern Cross.
A cosmic journey unfolds across continents in this time-lapse video which captures both iconic constellations from diverse corners of the world. Starting in China, the Big Dipper graces the night sky, a steadfast guide embedded in cultural narratives. Its luminance marks the beginning of this celestial odyssey. The two pointer stars on the end of the Big Dipper point to the North Star (Polaris) which appears to remain stationary as the sky rotates. From Nepal’s lofty peaks, the Big Dipper’s familiarity persists, a reliable fixture in the shifting panorama of the rotating planet. Moving to Chile, the Southern Cross adorns the firmament, emblematic of the southern skies. Frames from Chile showcase this constellation accompanied by the Milky Way Galaxy. In Namibia, a telescope from the H.E.S.S. Observatory appears in the video. Later, nestled beneath sheltering trees, the Big Dipper persists in its celestial prominence, appearing against a canvas of stars. Using varied techniques — fisheye lenses, static cameras, and Earth's movement-tracking — each frame unveils the Cross’s grandeur against diverse landscapes. These sequences — marked by star trails and Earth’s rotation—highlight the enduring presence of the Big Dipper and Southern Cross, bridging cultures and celestial beauty across hemispheres.
Credit: Jianfeng Dai/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)
Glossary Terms:
Big Dipper , Celestial Pole , Celestial Sphere , Earth's Rotation , North Celestial Pole (NCP) , Polaris , Southern Cross , South Celestial Pole (SCP)
Categories:
Naked Eye Astronomy
Tags:
astrophotography
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
This file on Zenodo ( video 863.53 MB)
Mercury
image
Caption: This image is a composite of a picture mosaic of the planet Mercury's surface obtained by the MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) space probe. MESSENGER was launched by NASA in 2004 and explored Mercury from 2011 to 2015.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Credit Link
Glossary Terms:
Mercury , Planet , Terrestrial Planet , Inner Planet
Categories:
Solar System
License: Public Domain Public Domain icons
File
( image
903.54 kB)
Saturn
image
Caption: The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 observed Saturn on 20 June 2019 as the planet made its closest approach to Earth this year, at approximately 1.36 billion kilometres away. The image shows coloured bands of gas on the planet's surface as well as its prominent rings made of ice and rocky material.
Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), and M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley)
Credit Link
Glossary Terms:
Gas Giant , Giant Planet , Outer Planets , Ring , Saturn
Categories:
Solar System
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
File
( image
262.21 kB)
