Surprising Spiral Structure Spotted by ALMA

Observations using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have revealed an unexpected spiral structure in the material around the old star R Sculptoris. This feature has never been seen before and is probably caused by a hidden companion star orbiting the star. This slice through the new ALMA data reveals the shell around the star, which shows up as the outer circular ring, as well as a very clear spiral structure in the inner material.

Dr. Martin Groenewegen of ROB is a member of the discovery team and co-author of the article in Nature.

Read more here (ESO) and here (Nature)