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Carbon monoxide is often detected near young stars, but the gas is usually spread through the planet-forming disk. What’s different about this ring is that it is shaped more like a rope than a dinner plate, said Charles Cowley, professor emeritus in the University of Michigan who led the international research effort.

“It’s exciting because this is the most constrained ring we've ever seen, and it requires an explanation,” Cowley said. “At present time, we just don't understand what makes it a rope rather than a dish.”  Perhaps magnetic fields hold it in place, the researchers say. Maybe “shepherding planets” are reining it in like several of Saturn’s moons control certain planetary rings.

“What makes this star so special is its very strong magnetic field and the fact that it rotates extremely slow compared to other stars of the same type,” said Swetlana Hubrig, of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), Germany.

The star’s unique properties first caught the researchers’ attention in 2008, and they have been studying it intensely ever since.

Understanding the interaction between central stars, their magnetic fields, and planet-forming disks is crucial for astronomers to reconstruct the solar system's history. It is also important to account for the diversity of the known planetary systems beyond our own. This new finding raises more questions than it answers about the late stages of star and solar system formation.

“Why do turbulent motions not tear the ring apart?” Cowley wondered. “How permanent is the structure? What forces might act to preserve it for times comparable to the stellar formation time itself?”

The team is excited to have found an ideal test case to study this type of object.

“This star is a gift of nature,” Hubrig said.

The findings are newly published online in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The paper is titled “The narrow, inner CO ring around the magnetic Herbig Ae star HD 101412.” Authors are from the University of Michigan, the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) in Germany, the Istituto Nazionale die Astrofisica in Italy and the European Southern Observatory.

Contact University of Michigan
Nicole Casal Moore, ncmoore@umich.edu, +1 734 647-7087

Science contact
Dr. Swetlana Hubrig, shubrig@aip.de, +49 331-7499-225

Press contact
Dr. Gabriele Schönherr / Kerstin Mork, presse@aip.de Tel.: +49 331 7499 469

The key topics of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics are cosmic magnetic fields and extragalactic astrophysics. A considerable part of the institute's efforts aim at the development of research technology in the fields of spectroscopy, robotic telescopes, and e-science. The AIP is the successor of the Berlin Observatory founded in 1700 and of the Astrophysical Observatory of Potsdam founded in 1874. The latter was the world's first observatory to emphasize explicitly the research area of astrophysics. The AIP is a foundation according to civil law and is a member of the Leibniz Association. The Leibniz Association is a network of 87 independent research institutes and scientific service facilities, which strive for scientific solutions for major social challenges.

A highly refined novel application of Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBG), which so far have been extensively used in physical and chemical sensing allows to overcome a long-standing fundamental problem in astronomy. The light from distant galaxies which has traveled for more than ten billion years since the beginning of the universe is shifted by the cosmological redshift to the infrared spectral region. However, as a result of excitation processes in the upper atmosphere the night sky in the infrared is just as bright as the twilight sky in the visible spectral range. The brightness of the night sky in the infrared, thus, prevents detection of faint stars and galaxies under normal conditions. The invention of the recently demonstrated highly complex optical fiber filter by the ASPIC researchers solves this problem. Disturbing emission lines of the night sky can be selectively filtered out by periodic structures imprinted along the optical fibers by using lasers.

Even the currently planned European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) could benefit from the innovation of the ASPIC researchers, because the invention allows an optimal use of the E-ELT (www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/e-elt.html). Is also holds great promise for other exciting applications in the field of chemical sensing and technology development.

"Fiber Bragg gratings are currently widely used for temperature and pressure measurement, for example, for seismic surveys in earthquake and volcano monitoring,” says Professor Dr. Hans-Gerd Löhmannsröben from the Institute for Physical Chemistry of the University Potsdam who was involved in the research. "Functionalized with organic dyes, optical fibers are used for detection of molecular oxygen,” he explains. Miniaturized versions of such fibers can also be employed for studies in living biological tissues and even in unicellular organisms such as microalgae. In this way, important physiological information about, among others, photosynthesis and hormonal effects in organisms can be obtained. This ongoing research in physical chemistry has even led to the foundation of the spin-off company Colibri Photonics.

The collaboration of the researchers from Potsdam themed "From Molecules to Galaxies" is part of the Center for Innovation Competence innoFSPEC Potsdam.

About the AIP: The key topics of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics are cosmic magnetic fields and extragalactic astrophysics. A considerable part of the institute's efforts aim at the development of research technology in the fields of spectroscopy, robotic telescopes, and e-science. The AIP is the successor of the Berlin Observatory founded in 1700 and of the Astrophysical Observatory of Potsdam founded in 1874. The latter was the world's first observatory to emphasize explicitly the research area of astrophysics.The AIP is a foundation according to civil law and is a member of the Leibniz Association. The Leibniz Association is a network of 87 independent research institutes and scientific service facilities, which strive for scientific solutions for major social challenges.

Science Contact AIP

Prof. Dr. Martin Roth, mmroth@aip.de

Press Contact AIP

Kerstin Mork, 0331 7499 469, presse@aip.de

Science Contact University of Potsdam

Prof. Dr. Hans-Gerd Löhmannsröben, loeh@chem.uni-potsdam.de

Press Contact University of Potsdam

Dr. Barbara Eckardt, eckardt@uni-potsdam.de

Further Information

www.aip.de

www.innofspec-potsdam.de

www.uni-potsdam.de

www.aip.de/highlight_archive/aspic_2009

Matthias Steinmetz hisste aus diesem Grund gemeinsam mit Oberbürgermeister Jann Jakobs und dem Präsidenten der Konrad-Wolf Filmhochschule Dieter Wiedemann eine Fahne am Eingang zum Gelände des heutigen Leibniz-Instituts für Astrophysik Potsdam.

Unter der Regie von Arnold Franck entspannt sich vor der Kulisse des Montablanc die Geschichte um einen Bergsteiger, der in einem Eissturm auf einer Bergstation Zuflucht findet und mit einem Astronom an der Sternwarte schließlich wieder Kontakt zur Außenwelt herstellt.

Pressekontakt

Kerstin Mork, presse@aip.de, 0331 7499-469

The light emitted by the installation mimics and reproduces the cosmic light that fills the Universe. To achieve this, Noam Libeskind from the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics in Potsdam used the CLUES simulations - a set of cosmological simulations that aim to reproduce the local universe. Each of the 1,680 LEDs of the chandelier is used to represent how light and mass evolve as the Universe expands from the Big Bang until today.

The idea is based on the theory that the Universe is around 14 billion years old and that its building blocks – galaxies like the Milky Way – grew larger as the Universe aged. As they grew larger, the light their stars emitted changed, visible as the LEDs emit different colours. State of the art simulations run on massive supercomputers were used to compress a billion years into one second so that the installation’s time loop plays back the history of the cosmos in 14 seconds and, in doing so, tells the story of how light came into being: how it was created and absorbed by the stars in the heavens.

Science Contact

Dr. Noam I. Libeskind, nlibeskind@aip.de

Press Contact

Kerstin Mork, presse@aip.de, 0331 7499-469

About CLUES

The CLUES project (Constrained Local UniversE Simulations) is an international astrophysical collaboration with the goal to achieve a better understanding of the formation of our Local Group, a group of dozens of galaxies to which our Milky Way and Andromeda belong. The Local Group and its environment is the best observed region of the universe. The CLUES project relies heavily on numerical simulations performed at supercomputers in Germany, Spain and US. Predictions from such simulations about the dark matter distribution and gasdynamical processes which govern the formation of galaxies can be compared with detailed observations of our galactic neighbourhood. Partners of the CLUES project are the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potdam (AIP), the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and the New Mexico State University.

www.clues-project.org

About the AIP

The key topics of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics are cosmic magnetic fields and extragalactic astrophysics. A considerable part of the institute's efforts aim at the development of research technology in the fields of spectroscopy, robotic telescopes, and e-science. The AIP is the successor of the Berlin Observatory founded in 1700 and of the Astrophysical Observatory of Potsdam founded in 1874. The latter was the world's first observatory to emphasize explicitly the research area of astrophysics.The AIP is a foundation according to civil law and is a member of the Leibniz Association. The Leibniz Association is a network of 87 independent research institutes and scientific service facilities, which strive for scientific solutions for major social challenges.

After finishing university in New Zealand and her PhD in Australia, 34 year old Mary Williams started her research at Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP) in 2007. She published her discovery in her paper titled "The Dawning of the Stream of Aquarius in RAVE".

The Judging Panel found her work to be both an excellent scientific achievement and a successful illustration of public outreach. The award ceremony will take place on 13 December in the Schlosstheater, Neues Palais.

Further Information on Mary’s work: https://www.aip.de/en/news/.

Science Contact:

Dr. Mary Williams, Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), Email: mary@aip.de

Press Contact:

Kerstin Mork, Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), Tel.: +49 331 7499 469, Email: presse@aip.de

The key topics of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics are cosmic magnetic fields and extragalactic astrophysics. A considerable part of the institute's efforts aim at the development of research technology in the fields of spectroscopy, robotic telescopes, and e-science. The AIP is the successor of the Berlin Observatory founded in 1700 and of the Astrophysical Observatory of Potsdam founded in 1874. The latter was the world's first observatory to emphasize explicitly the research area of astrophysics.The AIP is a foundation according to civil law and is a member of the Leibniz Association. The Leibniz Association is a network of 87 independent research institutes and scientific service facilities, which strive for scientific solutions for major social challenges.