All articles tagged with #gas accretion
Scientists have discovered a rogue planet, Cha 1107-7626, in the Chamaeleon constellation that is actively accreting gas and dust at an unprecedented rate, suggesting some rogue planets can grow similarly to stars, especially during violent growth spurts fueled by magnetic fields, challenging previous notions of these solitary worlds.
Scientists have observed a baby planet, AB Aurigae b, actively forming within its birth disk using ALMA and the Very Large Telescope, providing direct evidence of ongoing mass accretion and challenging traditional models of planet formation, especially given its early age and location within the disk.
Astronomers have observed the feeding habits of a supermassive black hole in the active heart of a distant galaxy and discovered that it recycles material. The black hole consumes only around 3% of the matter flowing towards it, while the rest is pushed away by the energy of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) but eventually falls back to the black hole. This recycling process has been observed in the Circinus Galaxy, located 13 million light-years away from Earth, and could help scientists better understand how supermassive black holes grow.
Astronomers have made a groundbreaking observation of a nearby active galactic nucleus using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), capturing gas flows and structures in the immediate vicinity of a supermassive black hole on sub-parsec scales. The study reveals the accretion flow towards the black hole, driven by gravitational instability, and the expulsion of most of the gas as atomic or molecular outflows. These outflows eventually return to the gas disk, completing a gas recycling process. The findings provide crucial insights into the growth mechanisms of supermassive black holes.