An Extraordinary Celestial Spiral with a Twist

Nrao_gallery_nrao17cb15_1024

nrao_Gallery_nrao17cb15  

Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) / Hyosun Kim et al.

An international team of astronomers using ALMA has unraveled the elliptical nature of the binary orbit of the old star LL Pegasi and its companion. The figure shows the composite image of molecular gas around LL Pegasi. By comparing this gas distribution depicted in exquisite detail by ALMA with theoretical simulations, the team concluded that the bifurcation of the spiral-shell pattern results from a highly elliptical binary system.

Provider: National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Image Source: /image/nrao/Gallery_nrao17cb15

Curator: NRAO/AUI/NSF, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

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Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
LL Pegasi • AFGL 3068
Subject - Milky Way
Star > Grouping > Binary

Distance Details Distance

Universescale1
4,240 light years
Nrao_gallery_nrao17cb15_1280
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ID
Gallery_nrao17cb15
Subject Category
B.3.6.1  
Subject Name
LL Pegasi, AFGL 3068
Credits
ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) / Hyosun Kim et al.
Release Date
Lightyears
4,240
Redshift
4,240
Reference Url
/image/nrao/Gallery_nrao17cb15
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Instrument
Color Assignment
Band
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
NRAO/AUI/NSF
URL
https://public.nrao.edu
Name
NRAO/AUI/NSF
Email
outreach@nrao.edu
Telephone
Address
520 Edgemont Road
City
Charlottesville
State/Province
Virginia
Postal Code
22903
Country
USA
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Publisher
NRAO/AUI/NSF
Publisher ID
nrao
Resource ID
Resource URL
/image/nrao/Gallery_nrao17cb15
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2018-05-04T16:35:06-04:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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Universescalefull
4,240 light years

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