On May 23, 2024, the Facebook page of NARIT, the National Institute for Astronomical Research, posted a photo with a message that read…
The Hubble Space Telescope has revealed an image of a shimmering star system decorated with a cave of gas and dust called “T Tauri.”
T Tauri is a triple star system embedded in a star-forming cloud of gas and dust within a reflection nebula about 550 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus (the three stars, HP Tau, HP Tau G2, and HP Tau G3). They are classified as variable stars (variable stars) that are young stars and have not yet undergone nuclear fusion reactions. But it develops into the hydrogen fusion stage. Astronomers estimate that the age of this star system will not exceed 10 million years, much less than the age of the current Sun, which is about 4.6 billion years old.
The T Tauri star system is a variable star whose brightness varies with time like any other star or variable star system. But this star system can experience two types of optical changes: periodic, caused by large sunspots, which cause the star's brightness to decrease for a period of time as the star rotates; The other type is random (random), resulting from the instability of the “accretion disk” that forms around the star. This may contain material within the disk that may fall to the surface of the star. It may cause a bright explosion. This is normal for newborn stars undergoing evolution.
The distorted area looks like a hole in the image. It is a nebular region made up of gas and dust. When starlight hits these gases and dust, as a result, the nebula reflects the starlight and shines brighter. Therefore, this type of nebula is called “reflection nebula.”
Observations of this star system are part of the study. Hubble's “protoplanetary disks” to explore regions of planet formation expected to occur in the next several million years.
Arranged by: Kritsada Rushiranukul – Astronomical Information Officer, SDR
pointing to :
[1] https://www.nasa.gov/…/hubble-views-the-dawn-of-a-sun…/
[2] https://science.nasa.gov/…/hubble-views-the-dawn-of-a…/
Thank you for the information/photos: Facebook page NARIT, National Institute for Astronomical Research.