A triple-star system with a misaligned and warped circumstellar disk shaped by disk tearing.

Young stars are surrounded by a circumstellar disk of gas and dust, within which planet formation can occur. Gravitational forces in multiple star systems can disrupt the disk. Theoretical models predict that if the disk is misaligned with the orbital plane of the stars, the disk should warp and break into precessing rings, a phenomenon known as disk tearing. We present observations of the triple-star system GW Orionis, finding evidence for disk tearing. Our images show an eccentric ring that is misaligned with the orbital planes and the outer disk. The ring casts shadows on a strongly warped intermediate region of the disk. If planets can form within the warped disk, disk tearing could provide a mechanism for forming wide-separation planets on oblique orbits.

Spiral density waves in a young protoplanetary disk.

Gravitational forces are expected to excite spiral density waves in protoplanetary disks, disks of gas and dust orbiting young stars. However, previous observations that showed spiral structure were not able to probe disk midplanes, where most of the mass is concentrated and where planet formation takes place. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, we detected a pair of trailing symmetric spiral arms in the protoplanetary disk surrounding the young star Elias 2-27. The arms extend to the disk outer regions and can be traced down to the midplane. These millimeter-wave observations also reveal an emission gap closer to the star than the spiral arms. We argue that the observed spirals trace shocks of spiral density waves in the midplane of this young disk.

A ∼0.2-solar-mass protostar with a Keplerian disk in the very young L1527 IRS system.

In their earliest stages, protostars accrete mass from their surrounding envelopes through circumstellar disks. Until now, the smallest observed protostar-to-envelope mass ratio was about 2.1 (ref. 1). The protostar L1527 IRS is thought to be in the earliest stages of star formation. Its envelope contains about one solar mass of material within a radius of about 0.05 parsecs (refs 3, 4), and earlier observations suggested the presence of an edge-on disk. Here we report observations of dust continuum emission and (13)CO (rotational quantum number J = 2 → 1) line emission from the disk around L1527 IRS, from which we determine a protostellar mass of 0.19 ± 0.04 solar masses and a protostar-to-envelope mass ratio of about 0.2. We conclude that most of the luminosity is generated through the accretion process, with an accretion rate of about 6.6 × 10(-7) solar masses per year. If it has been accreting at that rate through much of its life, its age is approximately 300,000 years, although theory suggests larger accretion rates earlier, so it may be younger. The presence of a rotationally supported disk is confirmed, and significantly more mass may be added to its planet-forming region as well as to the protostar itself in the future.

The development of a protoplanetary disk from its natal envelope.

Class 0 protostars, the youngest type of young stellar objects, show many signs of rapid development from their initial, spheroidal configurations, and therefore are studied intensively for details of the formation of protoplanetary disks within protostellar envelopes. At millimetre wavelengths, kinematic signatures of collapse have been observed in several such protostars, through observations of molecular lines that probe their outer envelopes. It has been suggested that one or more components of the proto-multiple system NGC 1333-IRAS 4 (refs 1, 2) may display signs of an embedded region that is warmer and denser than the bulk of the envelope. Here we report observations that reveal details of the core on Solar System dimensions. We detect in NGC 1333-IRAS 4B a rich emission spectrum of H2O, at wavelengths 20-37 microm, which indicates an origin in extremely dense, warm gas. We can model the emission as infall from a protostellar envelope onto the surface of a deeply embedded, dense disk, and therefore see the development of a protoplanetary disk. This is the only example of mid-infrared water emission from a sample of 30 class 0 objects, perhaps arising from a favourable orientation; alternatively, this may be an early and short-lived stage in the evolution of a protoplanetary disk.