Questa immagine potrebbe avere delle imperfezioni perché è storica o di reportage.
BBP Psc is a more evolved version of our Sun about 1, 000 light years from Earth. CXO data are colored in purple, and optical data from the 3-meter Shane telescope are shown in orange, green and blue. BP Psc is surrounded by a dusty and gaseous disk and has a pair of jets several light years long blasting out of the system. A close-up view is shown by the artist's impression on the right. For clarity a narrow jet is shown, but the actual jet is probably much wider, extending across the inner regions of the disk. Because of the dusty disk, the star's surface is obscured in optical and near-infrared light. The Chandra observation is the first detection of this star in any wavelength. The disk and the jets, seen distinctly in the optical data, provide evidence for a recent and catastrophic interaction in which BP Psc consumed a nearby star or giant planet. This happened when BP Psc ran out of nuclear fuel and expanded into its red giant phase. Jets and a disk are characteristics of very young stars, so astronomers thought BP Psc might be one as well. However, the new Chandra results argue against this interpretation, because the X-ray source is fainter than expected for a young star. September 14, 2010.
