Thursday, March 31, 2011

APOD 4.1

March 26th, 2011.                                 T Tauri and Hind's Variable Nebula



This picture is quite remarkable as it contains both a star of interest and a Nebula in the same frame.  These objects are located over 400 light-years away at the edge of a molecular cloud and span for a length of 4 light-years.  The yellowish orange star near the center is T Tauri, a prototype of the T Tauri Variable Star Class. Surrounding it is a dusty cosmic cloud known as Hind's Variable Nebula or NGC 1555. While both the Star and Nebula are very luminous and present, this is rare to find them both present at the same time without using an exposure on the picture adding to the mysteriousness behind the objects. It is believed that T Tauri variable stars like the one present are young stars sun-like stars still in their early stages of development.  Additionally, infrared telescopes have given evidence to believe that this T Tauri star is actually part of a multiple system and the surrounding Hind's Nebula also contains a young stellar object.  There is still much to be learned about this mysterious grouping, however astronomers are actively researching to find out all there is to know.

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