![MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE : WHAT DISTURBED A DISTANT STAR SYSTEM?](https://cdn.magzter.com/1493279487/1645697643/articles/6218d5903df0f/MYSTERIES-OF-THE-UNIVERSE-WHAT-DISTURBED-A-DISTANT-STAR-SYSTEM.jpg)
One of the greatest mysteries that astronomers hope to one day solve is how our Solar System formed. It’s long been known that star systems are shaped by collisions and other disruptive events, so whenever scientists are lucky enough to directly observe such an occurrence, it takes researchers one step closer to the answer.
In 2021, scientists made a breakthrough. They used the Atacama Large Millimeter/ submillimeter Array (ALMA), along with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), to peer at the Z Canis Majoris (Z CMa) star system. They wanted to study a stream of dust and gas that was stretching far into the darkness of space. In doing so they happened to capture an object which they could see had smashed into the protoplanetary disc of leftover material surrounding the protostar pair, and it got them very excited indeed.
Although astronomers had previously observed the effects of the collision – the streamer, as it’s referred to – this time researchers found something else. “We detected it almost purely by chance,” says Ruobing Dong, an astronomer at the University of Victoria in Canada and principal investigator of the study. “It was like going on a hiking trip, finding a beautiful leaf on a tree and taking a photo of it, only to examine the photo afterwards and find lightning in the background sky.”
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Issue 127-Ausgabe von All About Space.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Issue 127-Ausgabe von All About Space.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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LONG AGO, A LAKE ON MARS MAY HAVE BEEN SPRAWLING WITH MICROBES
Curiosity discovered manganese oxide in bedrock in a Martian region that may have been a shoreline billions of years ago
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MOON TOUR HELL
Finding this fascinating crater isnt as hard as its name suggests...
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THIS MONTH'S PLANETS
Most of the planets are tricky targets this month, but our guide will help you locate them
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UNIVERSE BEFORE TIME
Could the existence of a mirror-image cosmos before the Big Bang solve some of the biggest mysteries in astronomy?
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CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Alongside Earth, our planetary neighbourhood is changing, but it’s not for the better…
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Stars give tiny planets a gravitational 'squeeze' to strip away their atmospheres
A scientist has learned more about the violent processes that rip atmospheres away from planets, finding that squashing and squeezing by a parent star can contribute to this process.
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The Milky Way's halo is filled with ‘magnetic doughnuts' as wide as 100,000 light years
The outer halo of the Milky Way is filled with magnetic fields that take the shape of vast doughnuts with diameters ranging from 12,000 to 100,000 light years, with the heart of our galaxy at their centre.
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The Pentagon wants the commercial space reserve to support military satellites in orbit
The US Department of Defense is developing a plan to use the ever-growing American commercial space industry for national security purposes.
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DOES A COSMIC 'GLITCH' IN GRAVITY CHALLENGE ALBERT EINSTEIN'S GREATEST THEORY?
Gravity changes once you reach a cosmic scale
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DEEP SKY CHALLENGE : STELLAR TREASURES OF THE ARCHER AND SCORPION
Summer skies are stuffed full of amazing objects for your telescope - if you're prepared to stay up late