Free Astronomy Magazine May-June 2019

38 MAY-JUNE 2019 A stronomers using ALMA have detected various complex or- ganic molecules around the young star V883 Ori. A sudden out- burst from this star is releasing mol- ecules from the icy compounds in the planet forming disk. The chemical composition of the disk is similar to that of comets in the modern Solar System. Sensitive ALMA observations enable astronomers to reconstruct the evolution of organic molecules from the birth of the Solar System to the objects we see today. The re- search team led by Jeong-Eun Lee (Kyung Hee University, Korea) used the Atacama Large Millimeter/ sub- millimeter Array to detect complex organic molecules including methanol by ALMA Observatory Retreating snow line reveals organic molecules around young star F alse-color image of V883 Ori taken with ALMA. The distribution of dust is shown in orange and the dis- tribution of methanol, an organic molecule, is shown in blue. [ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Lee et al.]