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+--- Thread: Planet-forming lifeline discovered in a binary star system (/thread-184.html)
Planet-forming lifeline discovered in a binary star system - C C - Oct 30, 2014
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-10/nrao-pld102914.php
EXCERPT: A research group led by Anne Dutrey from the Laboratory of Astrophysics of Bordeaux, France, and the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) observed the distribution of dust and gas in a binary star system called GG Tau-A. It was recently discovered that one of GG Tau-A's components is itself a double star. This object is only a few million years old and lies approximately 460 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus.
Like a wheel in a wheel, GG Tau-A contains a large, outer disk encircling the entire system as well as an inner disk around the main central star. This second inner disk has a mass roughly equivalent to that of Jupiter. Its presence has been an intriguing mystery for astronomers since it is losing material to its central star at a rate that should have depleted it long ago....