FS Tau

Esahubble_heic2406a_1024

esahubble_heic2406a March 25th, 2024

Credit: NASA, ESA, K. Stapelfeldt (NASA JPL), G. Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

FS Tau is a multi-star system made up of FS Tau A, the bright star-like object near the middle of the image, and FS Tau B (Haro 6-5B), the bright object to the far right that is partially obscured by a dark, vertical lane of dust. The young objects are surrounded by softly illuminated gas and dust of this stellar nursery. The system is only about 2.8 million years old, very young for a star system. Our Sun, by contrast, is about 4.6 billion years old. FS Tau B is a newly forming star, or protostar, and is surrounded by a protoplanetary disc, a pancake-shaped collection of dust and gas leftover from the formation of the star that will eventually coalesce into planets. The thick dust lane, seen nearly edge-on, separates what are thought to be the illuminated surfaces of the disc. FS Tau B is likely in the process of becoming a T Tauri star, a type of young variable star that hasn’t begun nuclear fusion yet but is beginning to evolve into a hydrogen-fueled star similar to our Sun. Protostars shine with the heat energy released as the gas clouds from which they are forming collapse, and from the accretion of material from nearby gas and dust. Variable stars are a class of star whose brightness changes noticeably over time. FS Tau A is itself a T Tauri binary system, consisting of two stars orbiting each other. Protostars are known to eject fast-moving, column-like streams of energised material called jets, and FS Tau B provides a striking example of this phenomenon. The protostar is the source of an unusual asymmetric, double-sided jet, visible here in blue. Its asymmetrical structure may be because mass is being expelled from the object at different rates. FS Tau B is also classified as a Herbig-Haro object. Herbig–Haro objects form when jets of ionised gas ejected by a young star collide with nearby clouds of gas and dust at high speeds, creating bright patches of nebulosity. FS Tau is part of the Taurus-Auriga region, a collection of dark molecular clouds that are home to numerous newly forming and young stars, roughly 450 light-years away in the constellations of Taurus and Auriga. Hubble has previously observed this region, whose star-forming activity makes it a compelling target for astronomers. Hubble made these observations as part of an investigation of edge-on dust discs around young stellar objects. [Image description: A bright point of light shines near center-right with diffraction spikes, surrounded by glowing clouds against black space. A blue jet of material extends roughly throughout the center of the image, partially obscured by the clouds.]

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://esahubble.org/images/heic2406a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Baltimore, MD, United States

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
FS Tau
Esahubble_heic2406a_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 4h 22m 3.2s
DEC = 26° 57’ 40.8”
Orientation
North is 26.9° CCW
Field of View
1.6 x 1.8 arcminutes
Constellation
Taurus

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Cyan Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Orange Hubble (ACS) Optical (I) 814.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Cyan
Orange
Esahubble_heic2406a_1280
×
ID
heic2406a
Subject Category
Subject Name
FS Tau
Credits
NASA, ESA, K. Stapelfeldt (NASA JPL), G. Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
Release Date
2024-03-25T15:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://esahubble.org/images/heic2406a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Cyan, Orange
Band
Optical, Optical
Bandpass
V, I
Central Wavelength
606, 814
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None, None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
65.51312652396038, 26.961327752190083
Reference Dimension
1903.0, 2193.0
Reference Pixel
951.5, 1096.5
Scale
-1.3887018439033379e-05, 1.3887018439033379e-05
Rotation
26.880000000000024
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
https://esahubble.org
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
ESA Office, Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Dr
City
Baltimore
State/Province
MD
Postal Code
21218
Country
United States
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
heic2406a
Metadata Date
2023-12-26T16:37:57-05:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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