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Posted on 03/13/2008 11:41:49 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
In the new study, Johns-Krull and co-authors in the United States, Germany and Uzbekistan used reflected light from the sand itself to confirm the Earth-like orbit of grainy particles around a pair of stars called KH-15D in the constellation Monoceros. The stars are about 2,400 light years from Earth in the Cone Nebula, and they are only about 3 million years old, compared to the sun's 4.5 billion years... The researchers found that the Earth has a nearly edge-on view of KH-15D. From this perspective, the disk blocks one of the stars from view, but its twin has an eccentric orbit that causes it to rise above the disk at regular intervals... The team conducted both photometric and spectrographic analyses of data collected during the past 12 years from a dozen observatories, including the McDonald Observatory in west Texas, the Keck Observatory in Hawaii and the VLT on Mount Paranal in Chile.
(Excerpt) Read more at physorg.com ...
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Cool
Stars in My Pockets Like Grains of Sand.
You really don't want to know what big odd creature is out there casting shadows.
Oh, forgot to clean the telescope.
We were attracted to this system because it appears bright and dim at different times...which (along with staying up all night and sleeping in the daytime) explains the astronomers' social lives.
a nice pic here in a newer, similar topic:
What a Star’s Orbiting Disk Is Made Of
NY Times | March 13, 2008 | Dennis Overbye
Posted on 03/14/2008 1:03:52 AM EDT by neverdem
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1985452/posts
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