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Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have discovered twin disks and parallel jets in the young stellar system WL20.
Barsony et al. discovered twin disks and jets erupting from a pair of young stars in WL20. Image credit: NSF / NRAO / B. Saxton / NASA / JPL-Caltech / Harvard-Smithsonian CfA.
WL20 is located in the rho Ophiuchi molecular cloud complex, over 400 light-years away from Earth.
“What we discovered was absolutely wild,” said Dr. Mary Barsony, lead author of the study.
“We’ve known about star system WL20 for a long time. But what caught our attention is that one of the stars in the system appeared much younger than the rest.”
“Using MIRI and ALMA together, we actually saw that this one star was two stars right next to each other.”
“Each of these stars was surrounded by a disk, and each disk was emitting jets parallel to the other.”
ALMA and Webb’s MIRI observe very different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Using them together allowed the astronomers to discover these twins, hidden in radio and infrared wavelengths in star system. ALMA spotted the disks, while MIRI found the jets.
They analyzed ALMA archival data to reveal the disks’ composition and the MIRI data to reveal the chemical makeup of the jets.
They also analyzed high-resolution images, revealing the massive size of the disks, approximately 100 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
“So if it weren’t for MIRI, we wouldn’t even know that these jets existed, which is amazing,” Dr. Barsony said.
“ALMA’s high resolution observations of the disks surrounding the two newly observed stars revealed the disks’ structure.”
“Someone looking at this ALMA data not knowing there were twin jets would think, oh, it’s a large edge on disk with a central hole, instead of two edge on disks and two jets. That’s pretty remarkable.”
By combining multi-wavelength data from ALMA and Webb, the findings shed light on the complex processes involved in the formation of multiple star systems.
“We plan to utilize ALMA’s future upgraded capabilities, like the Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade, to continue unraveling the mysteries surrounding the birth of stars and planetary systems,” the researchers said.
They reported their results at the 244th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Madison, Wisconsin.
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Mary Barsony et al. 2024. Twin Jets and Twin Disks: JWST MIRI and ALMA Discoveries in the Young WL20 Multiple System. AAS 224, abstract # 253
