The Hubble Telescope and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope have shown researchers a very interesting image.
A Set of Ripples Traveling Through the Protoplanetary Disc of A Star.
This unforeseen and unexpected visual was spotted by a team of research as they analyzed the dust and debris surrounding the star AU Microscopii, or AU Mic, by the use of the SPHERE instrument of the VLT. Astronomers observe AU Mic in hopes of better grasping how planets form and evolve through the young star’s behavior.
Now, Thanks to the High-Contrast Images SPHERE Has Captured, There’s A New Mystery to Add to the List
Observations have shown something unexpected, Anthony Boccaletti writes in a statement. Boccaletti, an astronomer at the Observatoire de Paris, France, goes on to say that the images from SPHERE show a set of unexplained features in the disk, features that have an arch-like or wavy structure, unlike anything that’s ever been seen before. He’s the lead author on a new paper about this phenomenon, published in the most recent issue of Nature.
Further analysis shows that the ripples move very quickly, and that the waves move faster as they drift further away from the star, quickly enough to escape AU Mic’s gravitational pull, and scientists are speculating that there must be an external factor influencing these events.
Closest Explanation So Far: Stellar Flares
Carol Grady, one of the paper’s co-authors and researcher with Eureka Scientific, shares that everything about the find was surprising. Since nothing like this has been observed in the past, the team can only hypothesize what they are seeing and what it means, as well as how it happened and what led to the event. So far, asteroids and gravitational instability have been ruled out as possible causes for the rippling, but there’s no explanation as to what causes the waves to form or how they come to be. Their best guess is that a stellar flare sets a chain reaction, a ripple effect, on the region.
AU Mic is a star with high flaring activity, and it often lets off sudden giant bursts of energy from its surface or from near it, as stated by co-author and astronomer at University of Texas’ Steward Observatory Glenn Schneider. One of these flares may well have triggered something in one of the planets, if these are planets. There could be a violent stripping of material that could be propagating through the disc observed, and it could be propelled by the force of the flare.
