A planet and its Trojan orbiting a star in the PDS 70 system (annotated) (IMAGE)

ESO

A planet and its Trojan orbiting a star in the PDS 70 system (annotated)

Caption

This image, taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner, shows the young planetary system PDS 70, located nearly 400 light-years away from Earth. The system features a star at its centre, around which the planet PDS 70 b (highlighted with a solid yellow circle) is orbiting. On the same orbit as PDS 70b, indicated by a solid yellow ellipse, astronomers have detected a cloud of debris (circled by a yellow dotted line) that could be the building blocks of a new planet or the remnants of one already formed. The ring-like structure that dominates the image is a circumstellar disc of material, out of which planets are forming. There is in fact another planet in this system: PDS 70c, seen at 3 o’clock right next to the inner rim of the disc.

Credit

ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) /Balsalobre-Ruza et al.

Usage Restrictions

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License

CC BY

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