ALMA scientists used the unique hydrogen radio recombination lines on MWC 349A to reveal hidden collimated jets. While using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to study the masers around oddball star MWC 349A scientists discovered something unexpected: a previously unseen jet
Scientists studying masers— naturally occurring lasers that amplify microwave radio emissions— around the massive star MWC 349A discovered a 500 km/s jet of material launching out of the star’s gas disk from within the winds that are flowing away from the star. The bigger surprise is that the jet may be caused by magnetic forces. This artist’s conception shows a zoomed in view of MWC 349A and its surrounding disk of gas and dust that are being shaped by the winds and high-speed jet.
The massive star MWC 349A is one of the brightest radio sources in the sky. But, at 3,900 light-years away from Earth, scientists needed help to see what’s really going on, and in this case, to discover a jet of material blasting out from the star’s gas disk at 500 km/s.
Leveraging the resolving power of ALMA’s Band 6, developed by the US National Science Foundation’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory , the team was able to use the masers to uncover the previously unseen structures in the star’s immediate environment.
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