Hubble image archive

Protoplanetary Disk: Simulated Spiral Arm vs. Observational Data

[Right] – Observations taken by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope show a protoplanetary disk around the young star MWC 758. The disk has two spiral arms that extend over 10 billion miles from the star.[Left] – A computer model reproduces the two-spiral-arm...

Date
Jan 1, 2015
Mission
Hubble Space Telescope
Archive ID
hubblesite-images-2015-40-3651-image
By

[Right] – Observations taken by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope show a protoplanetary disk around the young star MWC 758. The disk has two spiral arms that extend over 10 billion miles from the star.

[Left] – A computer model reproduces the two-spiral-arm structure; the "x" is the location of a putative planet. The planet, which cannot be seen directly, probably excites the two spiral arms.

Credits

NASA, ESA, ESO, M. Benisty et al. (University of Grenoble), R. Dong (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), and Z. Zhu (Princeton University)

Image Details

About The Object
Object NameMWC 758
Object DescriptionYoung star with protoplanetary disk
R.A. Position05h 30m 27.53s
Dec. Position25° 19' 57.08"
ConstellationTaurus
Distance650 light-years (200 parsecs)
About The Data
Data DescriptionThe science team comprises R. Dong (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), and Z. Zhu, R. Rafikov, and J. Stone (Princeton University). The VLT image of MWC 758 is credited to NASA, ESA, ESO, M. Benisty et al. (University of Grenoble), R. Dong (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), and Z. Zhu (Princeton University).
InstrumentESO/VLT>SPHERE
Exposure DatesDecember 5, 2014, and March 3, 2015

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Source

Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.

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