Hubble captures stunning stellar duo in the Orion Nebula 1,450 light-years away
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a stunning new image of the bright variable star V 372 Orionis and a companion star.
The NASA and European Space Agency telescope captured the stars, which lie in the Orion Nebula, a star-forming region about 1,450 light-years from Earth.
The companion star is visible in the upper left corner.
V 372 Orionis is a special type of variable star known as the Orion Variable.
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The bright variable star V 372 Orionis takes center stage in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image.
(ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Bally, M. Robberto)
Uneven gas and dust from the Orion Nebulae are visible throughout the image. Orion variables are usually associated with diffuse nebulae.
The team’s image overlays data from two of the telescope’s instruments – the Advanced Survey Camera and Wide Field Camera 3.
Data at infrared and visible wavelengths have been overlaid to reveal details of the area.
An astronaut aboard the space shuttle Atlantis captured this image from the Hubble Space Telescope on May 19, 2009.
(NASA)
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Notably, the diffraction spikes that surround the brightest stars in the image formed when an intense point source of light interacted with the four vanes inside Hubble that support the telescope’s secondary mirror.
In this April 13, 2017, photo provided by NASA, technicians lift the mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope using a crane at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
(Laura Betz/NASA via AP, file)
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Comparatively, those of the James Webb Space Telescope are six-pronged due to its hexagonal mirror segments and 3-legged support structure for the secondary mirror.
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