Hubble captures giant chaotic planet-forming disk

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has imaged the largest known protoplanetary disk, revealing a turbulent and asymmetric structure around a young star. The disk, nicknamed Dracula's Chivito, stretches nearly 400 billion miles across and lies about 1,000 light-years from Earth.

The system, known as IRAS 23077+6707, contains enough material to form multiple giant planets, with an estimated mass 10 to 30 times that of Jupiter. Hubble's visible-light images show towering filaments extending from only one side of the edge-on disk, while the opposite side appears sharply defined. Researchers described the asymmetry as unexpected and potentially linked to ongoing processes such as material infall or external interactions.

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