09 – ALMA Top 10: Planetary Rings of Uranus ‘Glow’ in Cold Light

Using the both ALMA Observatory and the Very Large Telescope in Chile, astronomers have imaged the cold, rock-strewn rings encircling the planet Uranus. Rather than observing the reflected sunlight from these rings, ALMA and the VLT imaged the millimeter and mid-infrared “glow” naturally emitted by the frigidly cold particles of the rings themselves.

Infographic on interferometry
Artist Illustration of an AGN

Animation of Unified AGN Model

Astronomers used the NSF’s Karl Jansky Very Large Array to observe the dusty, doughnut-shaped torus surrounding the black hole and accretion disk at the center of a powerful radio galaxy. Animation depicts how the torus can obscure different features when viewed from different angles. This explains how the same type of “central engine” can appear different, leading to different names for objects seen from different angles.

Artist Impression of star about to undergo supernova
Artist Impression of Orion Source I