Birth of a new star
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The images from the telescope show material streaming from the baby star at incredibly high speed. Astronomers say the illuminated jets are being spewed out at a faster velocity than has ever been measured.
The glowing mass is called a Herbig-Haro object, named after the astronomers George Howard Herbig and Guillermo Haro. Such masses arise near young stars when gases mix with the surrounding dust.
The young star has not yet been named, having only received the official designation HH 46/47.
The relatively new ALMA telescope is an array of 66 antennas located in one of the driest places on Earth, the Atacama desert.
tj/rc (AP, afp)