In a first, scientists discover planet-forming disk beyond Milky Way

In a first, astronomers have found the swirling disk of material which is feeding a young star and is present in a galaxy, which is outside the Milky Way.

The disk was found near-identical to those discovered near infant stars in the Milky Way and this helped scientists understand that the stars and planets are formed in other galaxies just like the ones in our galaxy.

The young star, which has been just observed, is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is a galaxy located 160,000 light-years away from the Milky Way and its system, which has been given the name HH 1177, is placed in a massive cloud of gas.

The team, which was behind the discovery observed the system as part of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), which is the largest astronomical project.

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"When I first saw evidence for a rotating structure in the ALMA data, I could not believe that we had detected the first extragalactic accretion disc. It was a special moment," said researcher lead author and Durham University scientist Anna McLeod, in a statement, as reported by space.com.

"We know discs are vital to forming stars and planets in our galaxy, and here, for the first time, we're seeing direct evidence for this in another galaxy,” he added.

Jet emerges from forming star, hinting at existence of disk

McLeod and his teammates were hinted about the existence of this system when a jet emerging from a forming star was spotted by the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT).

The instrument is able to make observations in the visible wavelength range as well as measure the wavelengths of light which are getting emitted from the object. "We discovered a jet being launched from this young massive star, and its presence is a signpost for ongoing disc accretion," said McLeod.

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The scientists measured the movement of dense gas around the star to confirm that an accretion disk is present in HH 1177.

The gas, which is present at the centre of the accretion disc, is located close to the central object which is a young feeding star and is moving faster in comparison to the matter present on the disk's outskirts.

"The frequency of light changes depending on how fast the gas emitting the light is moving towards or away from us," said team member and Liverpool John Moores University research fellow Jonathan Henshaw.

"This is precisely the same phenomenon that occurs when the pitch of an ambulance siren changes as it passes you, and the frequency of the sound goes from higher to lower,” he added.

(With inputs from agencies)