Journey to Young Star HD 135344B and its Planet Candidate | ESO

Journey to Young Star HD 135344B and its Planet Candidate | ESO

This video zooms into HD 135344B, a young star located around 440 light-years away. The star is surrounded by a disc of dust and gas with prominent spiral features. New observations obtained with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) may have unveiled a planet that could be sculping these features.

The video combines images taken with telescopes at varying times and wavelengths. The journey begins with a wide view of the night sky in visible light. As we approach HD 135344B we see three images of the immediate vicinity of the star. First, an image of the star’s dusty disc taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Then, an infrared view of the spiral arms within the disc, captured with the SPHERE instrument at the VLT. Finally, a new infrared image revealing a candidate planet, taken with the VLT’s new ERIS instrument. 

Credit: ESO/L. Calçada/N. Risinger/VMC Survey/Digitized Sky Survey 2/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/N. van der Marel et al./T. Stolker et al./F. Maio et al.
Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: July 21, 2025

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