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kristopher

(29,798 posts)
Thu Sep 1, 2016, 12:46 PM Sep 2016

NASA team probes peculiar age-defying star

NASA team probes peculiar age-defying star
Date:
August 29, 2016
Source:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Summary:
For years, astronomers have puzzled over a massive star lodged deep in the Milky Way that shows conflicting signs of being extremely old and extremely young. Researchers initially classified the star as elderly, perhaps a red supergiant. But a new study by a NASA-led team of researchers suggests that the object, labeled IRAS 19312+1950, might be something quite different -- a protostar, a star still in the making.



An age-defying star designated as IRAS 19312+1950 (arrow) exhibits features characteristic of a very young star and a very old star. The object stands out as extremely bright inside a large, chemically rich cloud of material, as shown in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. A NASA-led team of scientists thinks the star - which is about 10 times as massive as our sun and emits about 20,000 times as much energy - is a newly forming protostar. That was a big surprise because the region had not been known as a stellar nursery before. But the presence of a nearby interstellar bubble, which indicates the presence of a recently formed massive star, also supports this idea.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech


https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160829163526.htm
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NASA team probes peculiar age-defying star (Original Post) kristopher Sep 2016 OP
What an amazingly beautiful universe we live in! PJMcK Sep 2016 #1
Maybe it's a stage of star formation as well as demise Warpy Sep 2016 #2
Beautiful! Thank you. n/t Judi Lynn Sep 2016 #3

PJMcK

(21,916 posts)
1. What an amazingly beautiful universe we live in!
Thu Sep 1, 2016, 02:24 PM
Sep 2016

The imaging that we receive from earth-bound telescopes, orbiting observatories and the many probes and robots sent in search of knowledge are remarkably incredible. It's equally fantastic that our best scientific minds can discern what is going on in space.

I find this kind of discovery fascinating. Thanks for posting the link, kristopher.

Warpy

(110,900 posts)
2. Maybe it's a stage of star formation as well as demise
Thu Sep 1, 2016, 05:43 PM
Sep 2016

It could be a brief stage, lasting thousands of years rather than millions, which is why it's rarely observed.

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