Scientists spot a triple-star system shredding its planet-forming disk in a cosmic first | Space

Scientists spot a triple-star system shredding its planet-forming disk in a cosmic first | Space



An artist’s impression (left) of the inner ring of GW Orionis and the actual image (right) taken with the SPHERE instrument on the Very Large Telescope array. (ESO/L. Calçada, Exeter/Kraus et al.)

Star system shreds its planet-forming disk

Astronomers have observed, for the first time, a multi-star system ripping apart the disk of material that could form planets. The three stars of GW Orionis have pulled some of their surrounding gas and dust into a warped disk with tilted rings. The rings could someday form planets with wildly oblique and distant orbits. “We are looking at what could eventually become an unusual type of planetary system in the very process of forming,” says study co-author Alison Young.

Space.com | 7 min readReference: Science paper