Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2019 October 16

                  BHB2007: A Baby Binary Star in Formation
           Image Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), F. O. Alves et al.

   Explanation: How do binary stars form? To help find out, ESO's Atacama
   Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) recently captured one of the highest
   resolution images yet taken of a binary star system in formation. Most
   stars are not alone -- they typically form as part of a multiple star
   systems where star each orbits a common center of gravity. The two
   bright spots in the featured image are small disks that surround the
   forming proto-stars in [BHB2007] 11, while the surrounding
   pretzel-shaped filaments are gas and dust that have been
   gravitationally pulled from a larger disk. The circumstellar filaments
   span roughly the radius of the orbit of Neptune. The BHB2007 system is
   a small part of the Pipe Nebula (also known as Barnard 59), a
   photogenic network of dust and gas that protrudes from Milky Way's
   spiral disk in the constellation of Ophiuchus. The binary star
   formation process should be complete within a few million years.

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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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