Leonardo Bronfman

In the stellar nursery HOPS-288, where three suns are forming, the ALMA telescope revealed two scorching regions around a pair of them. At –170°C, ice on cosmic dust melts, and reactions bubble up in the gas: organic molecules are born — methanol and methyl formate.

In a dense cloud of gas and dust where giant stars are born, the ALMA telescope has spotted something familiar. Four thin gas jets shoot out from the same region, each leaving behind a chain of bright knots, like a dashed line.