These images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 reveal the evolution of bubbles of glowing gas being blown out from the young binary star system XZ Tauri. Gas from an unseen disk around one or both of the stars is channeled through magnetic fields surrounding the binary system and then is forced out into space at nearly 300,000 miles per hour (540,000 kilometers per hour). This outflow, which is only about 30 years old, extends nearly 60 billion miles (96 billion kilometers).
Hubble first discovered this unique bubble in 1995, and additional observations were made between 1998 and 2000. These images show that there was a dramatic change in its appearance between 1995 and 1998. In 1995, the bubble's edge was the same brightness as its interior. However, when Hubble took another look at XZ Tauri in 1998, the edge was suddenly brighter. This brightening is probably caused by the hot gas cooling off, which allows electrons in the gas to recombine with atoms, a process that gives off light. This is the first time that astronomers have seen such a cooling zone "turn on."
These images provide an unprecedented opportunity to study the development of a very recent outflow from young (about 1 million years old) stars.
Credits
NASA, John Krist (Space Telescope Science Institute), Karl Stapelfeldt (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Jeff Hester (Arizona State University), Chris Burrows (European Space Agency/Space Telescope Science Institute)| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | XZ Tauri |
| Object Description | T Tauri Star; Binary Star System |
| R.A. Position | 04h 31m 40.0s |
| Dec. Position | 18° 13' 58.0" |
| Constellation | Taurus |
| Dimensions | Bubble Length: 5 arc seconds. Magnitude: R13 mag; I12 mag |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 Imaging of XZ Tauri: Time Evolution of a Herbig-Haro Bow Shock: |
| Instrument | HST>WFPC2 |
| Exposure Dates | January 1995, March 1998, February 1999, February 2000 |
| Filters | R band (F675W) |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
