In 2017 astronomers reported discovering a shadow sweeping across the face of a vast pancake-shaped disc of gas and dust surrounding the red dwarf star TW Hydrae. The shadow isn’t from a planet, but from an inner disc slightly inclined relative to the much larger outer disc — causing it to cast a shadow. One explanation is that an unseen planet’s gravity is pulling dust and gas into its inclined orbit. Now, a second shadow — playing a game of peek-a-boo — has emerged in just a few years between observations stored in the MAST archive of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This could be from yet another disc nestled inside the system. The two discs are likely evidence of a pair of planets under construction.
The release, images and videos are available on:
https://esahubble.org/news/heic2305/
Kind regards,
ESA/Hubble Information Centre
4 May 2023
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