An image that features two circumstellar disks in which baby stars are growing illustrates the first time ever that astronomers have witnessed the complex birth of binary stars in such vivd detail.
Astronomers had already seen a rough outline of the two protostars and their surrounding structures that were captured in the historical image, but these images offer an unprecedented look into the detailed network of gas and dust filaments circling them.
Scientists are hoping that these new observations will shine a light on stars’ mysterious origins. Stars are defined by all kinds of identities, from white dwarfs to blue giants. And stars also take on different social statuses.
And while our star, the Sun, remains the sole provider of Earth’s light, most stars travel in packs where two or more stars are gravitationally bound to one another.
