Strange Spiral Structure Discovered Around Red Giant Star By Astronomers

Curious spiral spotted by ALMA around red giant star R Sculptoris

A strange spiral structure was discovered by astronomers around a red giant star. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope, astronomers discovered that R. Sculptoris, an old red giant star, has a surprising spiral structure around it.

Astronomers believe that this structure is ejected material from the star. It forms the surprising spiral shape because of another companion star orbiting R Sculptoris. The orbit of the star may influence stellar winds shaping the material into the spiral structure discovered.

Astronomers have yet to discover this unseen companion star.

Although strange, red giants eject hot material later in its life. These materials are made up of dust and gasses that later on form into other stars, planets, and other interstellar objects. Initially, these materials form a gas and dust cloud in outer space called a nebula/nebulae.

The imaging telescope used is the ALMA. It is the most powerful telescope in the world. It covers sixteen kilometers of 66 high-precision antennas high up in the Chajnantor plateau in the Chilean Andes.

Using light wavelengths between infrared light and radio waves, the telescope can detect light from cold objects at near absolute zero temperatures in space. Usually, the light emitted is not detected by standard telescopes but since ALMA works in the what is called the millimeter/submillimeter radiation, it can be imaged.

Objects such as gas and dust clouds in space are often the target by ALMA since these areas are dark, cold and obscured by visible light.

ESO Press Release: Surprising Spiral Structure Spotted by ALMA

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have discovered a totally unexpected spiral structure in the material around the old star R Sculptoris. This is the first time that such a structure, along with an outer spherical shell, has been found around a red giant star. It is also the first time that astronomers could get full three-dimensional information about such a spiral. The strange shape was probably created by a hidden companion star orbiting the red giant. This work is one of the first ALMA early science results to be published and it appears in the journal Nature this week.

A team using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the most powerful millimetre/submillimetre telescope in the world, has discovered a surprising spiral structure in the gas around the red giant star R Sculptoris [1][2][3]. This means that there is probably a previously unseen companion star orbiting the star [4]. The astronomers were also surprised to find that far more material than expected had been ejected by the red giant.