INVESTIGATING A TRIPLE STAR SYSTEM IN FORMATION (STA BREAKING NEWS and ARCHIVES)

by STANews , Monday, November 03, 2014, 13:04

Artist's impression showing the gas and dust surrounding the triple star system GG Tau.
Credit: © ESO/L. Calçada

An international team of astronomers, including researchers at the LAB (CNRS/Université de Bordeaux), IPAG (CNRS/Université Joseph Fourier Grenoble 1) and IRAM (CNRS/MPG/IGN), has carried out the most accurate study so far of the cocoon of gas and dust surrounding the GG Tau A system. By combining complementary observations at submillimeter (ALMA and IRAM) wavelengths with those at infrared (VLTI/ESO) wavelengths, the researchers were able to identify the complex dynamics at work in GG Tau. For the first time, they detected motion of matter showing that exoplanets can form not only around one of the members of this trio of young stars, but also much further out in the disc surrounding the three stars. These observational findings, published in the October 30 issue of the journal Nature, reveal a more complex story than originally thought.

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141103121034.htm