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APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
BHR 71: Stars, Clouds, and Jets
Explanation: What is happening to molecular cloud BHR 71? Quite possible, a binary star system is forming inside. Most stars in our Galaxy are part of binary star systems , but few have ever been seen in formation. Recent observations of dust -darkened Bok Globule BHR 71, however, show evidence for two young stars forming deep in the cloud, likely close enough to form a binary . Isolated BHR 71 spans about one light year and lies only about 600 light years away in the southern sky . The brighter embedded star -- not visible here -- is about 10 times as bright as the Sun and drives the jet that swept out the empty lane. The above four-color image was taken with a Very Large Telescope in Chile .
| Date | January 27, 2003 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit & Copyright: J. Alves ( ESO ), E. Tolstoy ( Groningen ), R. Fosbury ( ST-ECF ), & R. Hook ( ST-ECF ), VLT |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |