June's Stellar Space Pictures
(Inside Science) -- In various breakthroughs this month, astronomers got first glances at gases and galaxies in the early universe. They imaged interstellar gas surrounding our local supermassive black hole, gas streaming between stars in planet formation, and gases forming the oldest galaxy merger in the universe. Through illustrations, telescope images and 3D renderings, these pictures reveal structures that help us understand how planets and galaxies alike form.
The MUSE instrument on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile zoomed in on this almost-complete ring of pink light shining from the distant universe. The blushing halo reveals neutral hydrogen gas encircling a distant galaxy, telling a story of how the galaxy's structure formed. (ESO/NASA/ESA/A. Claeyssens)
When it comes to planetary growth, one of the least understood steps is the formation of planetesimals -- celestial bodies larger than a kilometer across, but too small to be considered a planet. One theory of planet formation suggests that large dust grains interact with the gas orbiting young stars, and instabilities in the gas streams cause grains to clump up to form planetesimals. A team from Southwest Research Institute produced this 3D rendering that simulates this so-called streaming instability model. (HST/StSci/SwRI/Simon Porter)
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array found the earliest example of a galaxy merger this month. They observed a combination of three signals from a galaxy in the early universe -- signatures of oxygen, carbon and dust -- and concluded that what they thought was one galaxy was actually a combination of two. Above is an artist's impression of the merger, located an incredible 13 billion light-years away. (NAOJ)
At the center of the Milky Way lies a supermassive black hole. Surrounding it is a swirling tornado of cool, interstellar gas, stretching more than 50 billion miles beyond its center. In another breakthrough this month, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array was able to image this disk of cool hydrogen gas for the first time. This artist's impression dramatizes the phenomenon. (NRAO/AUI/NSF; S. Dagnello)
A team at the University of Göttingen has discovered two new Earthlike sister planets remarkably close to home. Dubbed Teegarden's Star, this alien solar system lies only about 12.5 light-years away. In the above illustration, Teegarden's planets orbit within the habitable zone of their star, with our solar system shown in the distance. (University of Göttingen, Institute for Astrophysics)
