Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/GSFC/M.Corcoran et al.; Optical: Eckhard Slawik

Delta Orionis is a complex star system that contains five stars in total. Two of those stars are in a close orbit where one passes in front of another from the vantage point of Earth, which helps astronomers learn more about their properties. The massive stars in this pair are so bright that their radiation blows powerful winds of stellar material away, affecting the chemical and physical properties of the gas in their host galaxies. Astronomers observed this system for the equivalent of nearly six days with Chandra to better understand these relatively rare but important stars.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2015/dori/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html