spitzer_ssc2013-04b February 7th, 2013
Credit: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC)
This is an artist's impression of two young binary stars that may be the source of mysterious clock-like bursts of light from an object called LRLL 54361 that lies inside the star-forming region IC 348, located 950 light-years away. Astronomers propose that the flashes are due to material in a circumstellar disk suddenly being dumped onto the growing young stars and unleashing a blast of radiation each time the stars get close to each other in their orbit.
Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope
Image Source: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/5544-ssc2013-04b-Artist-s-Impression-of-Pulsating-Object-LRLL-54361
Curator: Spitzer Space Telescope, Pasadena, CA, USA
Image Use Policy: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/info/18-Image-Use-Policy
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