A team of astronomers has been successful in obtaining extremely high quality pictures of the dusty disks surrounding the old stars. The team, headed by Michel Hillen and Hans Van Winckel of the Institute of Astronomy of Belgium, used the Very Large Telescope Infrerometer (VLTI) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

The VLTI is located in Chile and provides images with such high resolution that the astronomers can easily detect the shape and size of something as small as a one euro coin located two thousand kilometers far, according to researcher Jacques Kluska.

The VLTI was used by the astronomers to view IRAS 08544-4431, which is an aging double star located in the Vela constellation that is also named ‘The Sails’. The double star is currently in its protoplanetary nebula phase, which is post-asymptotic giant branch evolution period. A clearer picture of the dusty disks around older stars will be instrumental in giving deeper understanding of the stellar lifecycle.

“Our image provides the most detailed view into the heart of a dusty circumstellar disk to date”, stated the team. IRAS 08544-4431 comprises two stars, out of which the older one is responsible for materials forming the disk that is gaseous and dusty, and has been the point of interest for researchers.

Until now, it was not possible to detect older stars with such characteristics located at a distance that can be accurately examined, though young stars have been frequently found being surrounded with such disks.

However, the Precision Integrated-Optics Near-infrared Imaging ExpeRiment (PIONIER) instrument of the VLTI integrated the light from the four primary telescopes of the system for obtaining images with unparalleled sharpness. The images for the first time were completely focused on the duty rings around the old star.

The European Space Observatory stated that the extraordinary details entailed in these images have shed light on the older stars’ capability of forming stable gas and dust discs.