1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Images from ESO’s Very Large Telescope and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:17,000 have revealed unique and totally unexpected structures in the dusty disc around the star AU Microscopii. 3 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:28,000 These fast-moving wave-like dust features are unlike anything ever observed, or even predicted, before now. 4 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:56,000 AU Microscopii, or AU Mic for short, is a young nearby star surrounded by a large disc of dust. 5 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:02,000 Studies of such discs can provide valuable clues about how planets form. 6 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:12,000 Astronomers have been searching AU Mic’s disc for any signs of clumpy or warped features for years. 7 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:18,000 Such features might give away the location of possible planets. 8 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:27,000 For their search, astronomers have now used the powerful new imaging capabilities of 9 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:32,000 ESO’s SPHERE instrument, mounted on the Very Large Telescope. 10 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:38,000 And they discovered something completely unexpected. 11 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:02,000 Five wave-like arches at different distances from the star showed up in the new image. 12 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:14,000 The astronomers compared the SPHERE data with images of the disc taken by Hubble in 2010 and 2011. 13 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:21,000 The comparison of the data showed that these ripples were moving — and moving very fast! 14 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:30,000 At least three of the features are moving so fast that they are escaping from the gravitational pull of the star. 15 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:35,000 Such high speeds rule out the possibility that these are conventional disc features 16 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:40,000 caused by planets disturbing material in the disc while orbiting the star. 17 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:48,000 There must have been something else involved to speed up the ripples and make them move so quickly. 18 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:53,000 This means that they are a sign of something truly unusual. 19 00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:01,000 One explanation for the strange structure could be flares from the star. 20 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:07,000 AU Mic often lets off huge bursts of energy from its surface. 21 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:13,000 One of these flares could perhaps have violently stripped away 22 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:17,000 material from one of the planets — if there are any planets. 23 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:24,000 This material could now be propagating through the disc, propelled by the force of the flare. 24 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:30,000 To get the final answer to the nature of these features 25 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:36,000 astronomers will need additional observations made from the ground and from space. 26 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:45,000 But, for now, these curious features remain a big surprise and an unsolved mystery. 27 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:54,000 Transcribed by ESA/Hubble, Translated by ---