On October 10, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) radio telescope of the European Space Observatory released an interesting image, which featured an unanticipated spiral structure that astronomers have identified in the material around the old red star called R Sculptoris.

The picture released by the observatory marks the first ever 3D illustration of such a spiral; and clearly shows not only an outer circular ring which points to the shell around the star, but also a noticeably lucid spiral structure in the inner material.

About the mystifying spiral of gas and dust which astronomers have spotted as winding outward from the gigantic R Sculptoris star, the European Space Observatory said that it is for the first time that the baffling structure has been seen. The observatory further added that the possible underlying cause behind the formation of the structure is the likely presence “a hidden companion star orbiting the star.”

According to European Southern Observatory’s astronomer Matthias Maercker, who headed the team which spotted the mysterious spiral structure using the ALMA, the spiral was probably formed due to a previously undetected companion star which orbits around R Sculptoris and impacts the way it sheds material.

Noting that R Sculptoris’ thermal pulse processes and interior structure can be studied in detail by calculating the amount of gas and dust in different parts of the spiral, Maercker said: “We can walk along the spiral toward the star — it’s sort of like a clock that can tell us what happened when.”