Cosmic "Bat Shadow" Flaps Its Wings

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Text, News From The Universe. August 3, 2020
 
Cosmic "Bat Shadow" Flaps Its Wings.
 
Photo, A wedge-shaped shadow cuts through a cloud of interstellar gas.
 
Text, Astronomers were surprised to compare two Hubble images of a giant shadow in space and discover it had shifted position.
 
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[COSMIC MUSIC]
 
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Observed over a span of 404 days, the shadow appears like a cosmic bat flapping its wings.
 
Nicknamed the "bat shadow", the phenomena is evidence of a dusty disk around a young star.

The disk blocks the star's light and creates a long shadow on either side, like a lampshade around a bulb.
 
Astronomers think that the disk is warped into a saddle shape by an unseen planet's gravity, and the dips would account for the shadow "wings" appearing to move.
 
This news was brought to you in part by the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore MD.