Spiral spotted around red giant star R Sculptoris by ALMA telescope

A unique spiral structure encircling dying star R Sculptoris has been captured by scientists for the first time

A unique spiral structure encircling dying star R Sculptoris has been captured by scientists for the first time.

The spectacular picture is one of the first to come from the world’s most expensive ground-based telescope which produces images ten times sharper than Hubble.

It was built to study molecular clouds like the one around the red giant R Sculptoris which is 780 light years from Earth.

At 16,000ft up in the Chilean Andes the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is also the highest such machine on Earth.

The Atacama desert was chosen for its dryness and clarity.

A unique spiral structure encircling dying star R Sculptoris has been captured by scientists for the first time

The old red giant star R Sculptoris sits at spiral’s centre, ejecting dust and gas every 10,000 to 50,0000 years to form a shell of surrounding material.

Spherical shells have been seen around red giants before, but this kind of spiral is unique.

It is believed it is was caused by a previously unseen companion star carving through the material as it orbits.

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James J. Williams

James is a professor in Science. His writing skills brought him to BelleNews. He enjoys writing articles for the Science and Technology category. James often finds himself reading about the latest gadgets as the topic is very appealing to him. He likes reading and listening to classical music.