DEVELOPING Person on fire outside Trump's hush money trial rushed away on a stretcher
A person who was on fire in a park outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump’s hush money trial is taking place has been rushed away on a stretcher.
Astronomers have detected the presence of a disc around a planet outside our solar system for the first time.
Using the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observatory which is partially run by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), astronomers saw the disc, called a “circumplanetary disk,” surround the exoplanet PDS 70c, one of two giant Jupiter-like planets orbiting a star nearly 400 light-years away.
Researchers had found hints of a disc being formed around PDS 70c before, according to a release, but could not get a clear enough image to support their theory, until now. Their findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on Thursday.
"Our work presents a clear detection of a disc in which satellites could be forming," said study author Myriam Benisty in the release. "Our ALMA observations were obtained at such exquisite resolution that we could clearly identify that the disc is associated with the planet and we are able to constrain its size for the first time.”
Using ALMA, Benisty and the team found that the disc has approximately the same diameter as the distance from our Sun to the Earth and enough mass to form up to three satellites the size of the Moon.
"These new observations are also extremely important to prove theories of planet formation that could not be tested until now," said study author Jaehan Bae.
Planets form in dusty discs around young stars, carving out space as they collect material from the disc to grow. In this process, a planet can acquire its own circumplanetary disc, which contributes to the growth of the planet by regulating the amount of material falling onto it.
At the same time, the gas and dust in the circumplanetary disc can come together into progressively larger bodies through multiple collisions, ultimately leading to the birth of moons.
But astronomers do not yet fully understand the details of these processes. "In short, it is still unclear when, where, and how planets and moons form," said ESO researcher Stefano Facchini, in the release. "This system therefore offers us a unique opportunity to observe and study the processes of planet and satellite formation.”
Exoplanets PDS 70b and PDS 70c, the two planets making up the system, were first discovered using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The latest high-resolution ALMA observations have now allowed astronomers to gain further insights into the system.
For instance, researchers found that because PDS 70b does not have clear evidence of a disc, it was probably starved of material because of PDS 70c forming its own.
Researchers hope to continue their study using the ESO’s high-resolution Extremely Large Telescope, currently under construction on Cerro Armazones in the Chilean Atacama desert.
A person who was on fire in a park outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump’s hush money trial is taking place has been rushed away on a stretcher.
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
The Senate legal affairs committee has rejected a motion calling for members to take a $50,000 field trip to the African Lion Safari in southern Ontario to see the zoo's elephant exhibit.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is encouraging veterinarians to keep an eye out for signs of avian influenza in dairy cattle following recent discoveries of cases of the disease in U.S. cow herds.
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
Group of Seven foreign ministers warned of new sanctions against Iran on Friday for its drone and missile attack on Israel, and urged both sides to avoid an escalation of the conflict.
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
A family trip took a frightening turn for Christopher Won when he was diagnosed with flesh-eating disease while in Hong Kong and now, after weeks of treatment overseas, the Vancouver firefighter is back home recovering.
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.