Overview

• The Kyoto University–University of Tokyo team studied the high-mass protostellar region G336.018-00.827 (ALMA1) and published the results on August 20 in Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adw4512).
• ALMA imaging identified two large-scale streamers supplying material to the protostar, with one showing a velocity gradient consistent with rotation and possible infall.
• Researchers expected a dust disk several hundred astronomical units wide but found either no disk or a very small one near the central source.
• The streamers appear to transport gas from scales beyond 1,000 astronomical units and may deliver it at rates sufficient to counteract stellar feedback and sustain a dense central region.
• The team plans expanded ALMA surveys and closer-in measurements to assess how common streamer-fed growth is and to confirm or rule out small inner disks.