The colossal structure nicknamed ‘Dracula’s Chivito’ is the largest known planet-forming disk and has been captured in unprecedented detail by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope
Scientists have captured stunning images of a colossal cosmic phenomenon named after vampire Count Dracula. The chaotic formation, christened “Dracula’s Chivito”, represents the most enormous known planet-forming disc ever documented and has been photographed with remarkable clarity.
Utilising NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have snapped the gigantic disc surrounding the youthful celestial body IRAS 23077+6707. It is positioned roughly 1,000 light-years from Earth, marking the first time it’s been observed in visible light.
This astronomical behemoth stretches nearly 400 billion miles across – approximately 40 times wider than our entire solar system – and completely conceals the central star or potential binary pair at its heart.
The whimsical moniker pays tribute to research team members hailing from Transylvania, where Dracula is from, and Uruguay. The sideways disc making up the space oddity bears an uncanny resemblance to the chivito, a beloved Uruguayan sandwich, through Hubble’s lens.
Co-researcher Joshua Bennett Lovell, an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA), explained: “We were stunned to see how asymmetric this disk is. Hubble has given us a front row seat to the chaotic processes that are shaping disks as they build new planets – processes that we don’t yet fully understand but can now study in a whole new way.”
Space experts believe the extraordinary dimensions and uneven architecture of “Dracula’s Chivito” might provide groundbreaking insights into planetary formation and development within particularly massive and turbulent stellar nurseries.
In other space news, scientists have recently unearthed a rogue planet that appears to be floating through space with no star. Researchers are racing to find out as much information about the celestial body before it disappears from view.
Boffins have been left baffled by this new discovery, as it appears to have no host star to connect itself to. However, with no star to reflect light off, the new discovery could be completely invisible.
These planets are relatively common, being named “free-floating planets”, with no centre of gravity to pull them into. However, with no star to provide light to — and no ability to generate light itself — the planet is almost entirely invisible, the Daily Star previously reported.
Astronomers have said the universe is filled these rogue planets as they float across space with no specific route. Despite the first one only being spotted back in 2001, some boffins estimate that there could be billions of these invisible bodies in the Milky Way alone.
It is currently unknown how these planets came about; however, the current working theory is that these planets are born around stars but are kicked out afterwards because of a gravitational shift.
These can crop up as a result of each planet’s interaction with other planets or interstellar objects.
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