A Massive Stream of Gas Tilted This Planet-Forming Disk
Astronomers found evidence that a giant stream of gas flowing into the GW Orionis young triple-star system may have tilted its planet-forming disk, offering a new explanation for why some planetary systems are misaligned. The next step is to search for shock fronts in the system, and to search for more of these massive streams of gas in other systems.
A massive stream of gas, extending a trillion miles, is feeding into a young triple star system named GW Orionis and may be responsible for tilting its disk of dust. The research, published in The Astronomical Journal, reveals that the gas stream's angular momentum vector aligns closely with the outermost dust ring, while the innermost ring remains misaligned by approximately 32 degrees.
This misalignment is unlike the relatively flat orbital planes found in our Solar System, where planets orbit on a nearly flat plane aligned with the Sun's rotation. The findings suggest that star formation processes may involve complex, turbulent streams of gas that can tilt the orbits of planets and potentially alter the rotation of stars.
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