Hubble Captures 'Dracula’s Chivito': One of the Largest Planet-Forming Disks Ever Seen
Washington: NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured a striking new image of one of the largest planet-forming disks ever observed in the cosmos. Nicknamed "Dracula’s Chivito" (officially designated IRAS 23077+6707), this massive stellar structure offers astronomers an unprecedented look at the raw environments where new worlds are born.
Located roughly 1,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cepheus, the enormous disk surrounds a young central star. According to data released by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), the disk stretches nearly 400 billion miles across—a span roughly 40 times the diameter of our own solar system extending out to the Kuiper Belt.
A Cosmic Sandwich
When viewed edge-on from Earth, the giant ring of gas and dust bears an uncanny resemblance to a cosmic hamburger or sandwich.
The Dark Core: A thick central lane of cold, dense dust cuts through the center, completely blocking direct light from the newborn star inside.
The Glowing Outer Layers: Material fanning out around the dark center scatters the star's light, creating glowing upper and lower rims visible to Hubble's high-resolution instruments.
Mysterious and Chaotic Structures
Beyond its sheer size, scientists are particularly intrigued by the system's asymmetrical, chaotic behavior. Hubble’s imaging revealed long, faint, wispy tendrils of material extending high above and below the main plane of the disk, with noticeably stronger structures on one side.
Astronomers suspect these chaotic features are shaped by active environmental processes, such as fresh material falling inward toward the star or strong gravitational interactions with the surrounding interstellar environment. Studying Dracula’s Chivito is expected to give researchers new insight into how giant planetary systems form amidst turbulent conditions.
