ESO ALMA Observatory: Young binary star system form planets with weird and wild orbits

This is ALMA data of HK Tau shown in a composite image with Hubble infrared and optical data. 

Credit: B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF); K. Stapelfeldt et al. (NASA/ESA Hubble)

Unlike our solitary Sun, most stars form in binary pairs, two stars that orbit a common center of mass.

Though remarkably plentiful, binaries pose a number of questions, including how and where planets form in such complex environments.

While surveying a series of binary stars with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers uncovered a striking pair of wildly misaligned planet-forming disks in the young binary star system HK Tau.

These results provide the clearest picture ever of proto-planetary disks around a double star and could reveal important details about the birth and eventual orbit of planets in a multiple star system.

"ALMA has given us an unprecedented view of a main star and its binary companion sporting mutually misaligned protoplanetary disks," said Eric Jensen, an astronomer at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.

"In fact, we may be seeing the formation of a solar system that may never settle down."

The two stars in this system, which is located approximately 450 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus, are less than 5 million years old and separated by about 58 billion kilometers, or 13 times the distance of Neptune from the Sun.

This system's companion star, dubbed HK Tau, appears fainter to astronomers on Earth because its disk of dust and gas blocks out much of the starlight.

The disk itself, however, can be easily observed by the starlight that it scatters at optical and near-infrared wavelengths.

The key velocity data taken with ALMA that helped the astronomers determine that the disks in HK Tau were misaligned. 

The red areas represent material moving away from Earth and the blue indicates material moving toward us. 

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC); ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)

The disk around the main star, HK Tau A, is tilted in such a way that the light from its host star shines through unobscured, making it difficult for astronomers to see the disk optically.

This is not a problem for ALMA, however, which can readily detect the millimeter-wavelength light emitted by the dust and gas that comprise the disk.

With its unprecedented resolution and sensitivity, ALMA was able to fully resolve the rotation of HK Tau A's disk for the first time.

This clearer picture enabled the astronomers to calculate that the disks were misaligned, meaning they were out of sync with the orbit of their host stars, by as much as 60 degrees or more.

Rachel Akeson

"This clear misalignment has given us a remarkable look at a young binary star system," said Rachel Akeson of the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (NEXSCI) at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California.

"Though there have been hints before that this type of misaligned system exists, this is the cleanest and most striking example."

Stars and planets form out of vast clouds of dust and gas. As material in these clouds contracts under gravity, it begins to rotate until most of the dust and gas falls into a flattened proto-planetary disk swirling around a growing central protostar.

Despite forming from a flat, regular disk, planets can end up in highly eccentric orbits, and may be misaligned with the star's equator.

One theory for how planets can migrate to these unusual orbits is that a binary companion star can influence them, but only if its orbit is initially misaligned with the planets.

This is an artist's impression of the misaligned protoplanetary disks around the binary stars in HK Tau. 

Credit: R. Hurt (NASA/JPL-Caltech/IPAC)

"Our results demonstrate that the necessary conditions exist to modify planetary orbits and that these conditions are present at the time of planet formation, apparently due to the binary formation process," noted Jensen.

"We can't rule other theories out, but we can certainly rule in that a second star will do the job."

Since ALMA can see the otherwise invisible dust and gas of protoplanetary disks, it allowed for never-before-seen views of this young binary system.

"Because we're seeing this in the early stages of formation with the protoplanetary disks still in place, we can see better how things are oriented," noted Akeson. "You can simply see gas better than you can see planets."

Looking forward, the researchers want to determine if this type of system is typical or not. They note that this is a remarkable individual case, but additional surveys are needed to determine if this sort of arrangement is common throughout our Galaxy.

More information: Nature DOI: 10.1038/nature13521

Depression: SPARX Game As Effective As Traditional Treatment

An innovative computer-based intervention for depressed young people, developed by researchers from The University of Auckland, has been shown to be at least as effective as standard treatments mainly comprising face-to-face therapy.

A research team led by Associate Professor Sally Merry developed and trialled the intervention called SPARX with the aim of giving young people easier, lower cost access to treatment.

In a study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) they assessed the effectiveness of SPARX in 24 sites around New Zealand, including youth clinics, schools and general practices. Half of the young people participating used the new game and half received standard treatment through their doctor, school counsellor or other provider. SPARX was shown to be at least as good as the standard treatments.

SPARX uses CD-Rom based computer gaming to teach self-help for depression. It includes an interactive 3D fantasy game to teach young people the skills they need to cope with challenges and manage their mood. In contrast to many other e-therapies, SPARX has been designed to help young people learn through action in a virtual world. It is based on cognitive behavioural therapy, a proven therapeutic approach.

“Using computer technology that young people are comfortable with is one way of making therapy more accessible, practical, and hopefully more fun,” says Dr Merry. It has been designed to be easily accessed by young people directly or to be delivered easily in primary care settings.

In 2011, SPARX won a UN World Summit Award recognising creativity and innovation in e-health interventions.



Depression is common among young people internationally and accessing help can be difficult. One in five New Zealanders will have experienced clinical depression by their eighteenth birthday. Three quarters of young people with depression never receive treatment. “We want to intervene earlier and more effectively,” says Dr Merry.

SPARX was initiated by researchers, clinicians, and learning technologists at the University’s Werry Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health in the Department of Psychological Medicine. It was developed with input from Māori, Pacific people, and other cultural groups in New Zealand.

The programme was created with the assistance of a local game development company, Metia Interactive. A number of actors, musicians and artists have generously donated their time and skills to the project.

The work was funded by the NZ Ministry of Health as part of the Primary Health Care Strategy to build and strengthen the capacity of the primary care sector to respond to mental health needs, and in this case adolescent depression

More information on SPARX is available on www.sparx.org.nz.

CANADA Lego Man in Space - YouTube

A video posted on YouTube shows the amazing voyage of a Lego man sent into space on a homemade spacecraft by two Toronto students.

Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad, both 17, used a weather balloon ordered online and a makeshift Styrofoam spacecraft to send the plastic astronaut 15 miles into the stratosphere, reports said.

Their high school principal Lecourgos Papathanasakis confirmed the "amazing voyage" but neither of the teens was immediately available for comment.

The accelerated video clip shows highlights of the Lego man during his 97-minute odyssey.

Ultimately, he is seen holding a Canadian flag with the curvature of the Earth and the blackness of space in the background.

Canadian media said the pair had fitted a box tethered to the balloon with four cameras and a cellphone enabled with a GPS (global positioning system) device to capture the journey.

They then added a home-made nylon parachute, using Asad's mother's sewing machine, so the Lego man would return to Earth safely.

The balloon was filled with helium purchased from a party supply store.

The whole enterprise cost less than £320.

The duo then consulted a website to calculate the estimated landing spot of the weather balloon based on launch coordinates, prevailing winds and other data before launching it from a soccer pitch in nearby Newmarket, Ontario.

At four miles in altitude, the balloon travelled out of cell phone range and the GPS signal also cut out, so they went home and waited until Ho's iPad beeped.

The Lego man had called home. It had re-entered the atmosphere, picked up the cell signal again and touched down in a field 75 miles from the launch point.

Michael Reid, an astrophysicist at the University of Toronto, said what Ho and Muhammad were able to achieve is extraordinary.

"There are people that are doing it, but I haven't seen many examples of 17-year-old kids doing it," Reid said. "It's a pretty impressive accomplishment."

NASA Hubble Image: ARP 274 - A Tale of Three Galaxies

Arp 274, also known as NGC 5679, is a system of three galaxies that appear to be partially overlapping in the image, although they may be at somewhat different distances.

The spiral shapes of two of these galaxies appear mostly intact. The third galaxy (to the far left) is more compact, but shows evidence of star formation.

Two of the three galaxies are forming new stars at a high rate.

This is evident in the bright blue knots of star formation that are strung along the arms of the galaxy on the right and along the small galaxy on the left.

The largest component is located in the middle of the three. It appears as a spiral galaxy, which may be barred. The entire system resides at about 400 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Virgo.

Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 was used to image Arp 274 in april 2011. Blue, visible and infrared filters were combined with a filter that isolates hydrogen emission.

The colours in this image reflect the intrinsic colour of the different stellar populations that make up the galaxies.

Yellowish older stars can be seen in the central bulge of each galaxy. A bright central cluster of stars pinpoint each nucleus.

Younger blue stars trace the spiral arms, along with pinkish nebulae that are illuminated by new star formation.

Interstellar dust is silhouetted against the starry population. A pair of foreground stars inside our own Milky Way are at far right.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Multiple Craters; Both Young And Old In Sirenum Fossae

Elevation of the Sirenum Fossae region in the Southern Highlands of Mars. The image shows the region centred at about 28 degrees S, 185 degrees E.

It extends some 230 by 127 kilometres and covers 29,450 square kilometres, roughly the size of Belgium. For more images please go here.

The High Resolution Stereo Camera, operated by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) on board the Mars Express orbiter has imaged craters, both young and old, in this view of the Southern Highlands of Mars.

Part of the Sirenum Fossae region in the Southern Highlands, the area in this image is centred at about 28 degrees S, 185 degrees E. The image captures an area to the north of the Magelhaens Crater. It extends some 230 by 127 kilometres and covers about 29,450 square kilometres, roughly the size of Belgium. The image resolution is approximately 29 metres per pixel.

Sirenum Fossae extends more than 2500 kilometres to the southwest of the Tharsis volcanic region, which houses Olympus Mons, the highest volcano in our Solar System.

Sirenum Fossae is system of grabens, formed by stresses placed on the crust during the uplift of the Tharsis region. A graben is visible as two sets of parallel lines running from top to bottom to the left of centre.

The Southern Highlands are older than the Northern Lowlands, based on the larger number of impact craters seen covering the region. Craters 50 kilometres in diameter are common in this area and have usually suffered from erosion, indicating they were formed during ancient times.