Astronomers have captured a spectacular scene of two old stars nearing the end of their lives carving away at clouds of gas and dust, forming an unevenly glowing nebula.
What is it?
In the center of the image are two dark dots, a pair of massive stars orbiting each other in a binary system. like many people star In our galaxy, they were born as a duo. Now, as they reach the end of their lives, they release large amounts of gas and dust into space.
A binary star system consists of two gravitationally bound stars orbiting a shared center of mass called a barycenter. In fact, most stars are not as isolated as our sun, as scientists estimate. 85% of all stars They exist in binary star systems or systems with three or more stars.
The star appears black because its intense brightness saturates the detectors. To reveal the faint material in the surroundings, astronomers sphere measuring instrument VLT is specifically designed to handle extreme contrasts in light and compensate for blurring effects. earth’s atmosphere.
Why is it amazing?
Rather than spread out into a perfect sphere, the gas and dust appear distorted into an almost egg-shaped cloud. This distortion is likely caused by the gravitational influence of the companion star, providing clear evidence that stellar partnerships can dramatically alter the way a star dies.
These findings were recently published in the journal astronomy and astrophysics
Characterization of the post-red supergiant binary system AFGL 4106 and its complex nebula by SPHERE/VLT G. Tomassini, E. Lagadec, I. El Mellah, RD Oudmaijer, A. Chiavassa, M. N’Diaye, P. de Laverny, N. Nardetto, A. Matter A&A, 706 (2026) A5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202557705