NASA shares stunning image of triple-star system 550 light-years away

NASA explained that the triple-star system is made up of the variable star HP Tau, HP Tau G2, and HP Tau G3. "These three stars blaze from the hollowed-out cavity of a reflection nebula, illuminating the surrounding clouds," it said.

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Explaining the HP Tau star, NASA said that HP Tau is classified as a T Tauri star, which is a young variable star that hasn't begun nuclear fusion yet, but is starting to evolve into a hydrogen-fueled star similar to the Sun. T Tauri stars are typically younger than 10 million years old and are often found still swaddled in the clouds of gas and dust from which they formed.

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NASA added, "A variable star's brightness changes over time, but T Tauri stars have both periodic and random fluctuations in brightness," adding that the random changes could be caused by things like flares on the star's surface, whereas periodic changes might be due to giant sunspots rotating in and out of view.

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Further explaing the HP Tau, NASA added that it is 550 light-years from Earth and is the youngest star in a three-star system.

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Meanwhile, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990 and since then has changed fundamental of understanding of the universe right from determining the atmospheric composition of planets around other stars to discovering dark energy.

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Published: 16 May 2024, 10:31 AM IST