Jets emerge from the cocoon of the multi-star system FS Tau in the new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
This Hubble image shows FS Tau, a multi-star system some 450 light-years away in the constellation of Taurus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / K. Stapelfeldt, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Gladys Kober, NASA / Catholic University of America.
FS Tau is located approximately 450 light-years away in the constellation of Taurus.
The system is part of the Taurus-Auriga region, a collection of dark molecular clouds that are home to numerous newly forming and young stars.
Also known as HH 157 or TIC 58437437, FS Tau is only about 2.8 million years old — very young for a star system.
“FS Tau is a multi-star system made up of FS Tau A, the bright star-like object near the middle of the image, and FS Tau B, the bright object to the far right obscured by a dark, vertical lane of dust,” the Hubble astronomers said.
“The young objects are surrounded by gently illuminated gas and dust of this stellar nursery.”
“FS Tau B is a protostar surrounded by a protoplanetary disk, a pancake-shaped collection of dust and gas leftover from the formation of the star that will eventually coalesce into planets.”
“The thick dust lane, seen nearly edge-on, separates what are thought to be the illuminated surfaces of the flared disk.”
“FS Tau B is likely in the process of becoming a T Tauri star, a type of young variable star that hasn’t begun nuclear fusion yet but is beginning to evolve into a hydrogen-fueled star similar to our Sun.”
“Protostars shine with the heat energy released as the gas clouds from which they are forming collapse, and from the accretion of material from nearby gas and dust.”
“Variable stars are a class of star whose brightness changes noticeably over time.”
“FS Tau A is itself a T Tauri binary system, consisting of two stars orbiting each other,” the researchers added.
“Protostars are known to eject fast-moving, column-like streams of energized material called jets, and FS Tau B provides a striking example of this phenomenon.”
“The protostar is the source of an unusual asymmetric, double-sided jet, visible here in blue.”
“Its asymmetrical structure may result from the difference in the rates at which mass is being expelled from the object.”
“FS Tau B is also classified as a Herbig-Haro object,” they said.
“Herbig-Haro objects form when jets of ionized gas ejected by a young star collide with nearby clouds of gas and dust at high speeds, creating bright patches of nebulosity.”
Source : Breaking Science News