Planetary Protection: X-ray Super-Flares Aid Formation of "Solar

Chandra_283_1024

chandra_283 May 10th, 2005

Credit: NASA/CXC/Penn State/E.Feigelson & K.Getman et al.

This Chandra image was produced by observing the Orion Nebula

almost continuously for 13 days. The long observation enabled

scientists to study the X-ray behavior of young Sun-like stars with

ages between 1 and 10 million years. They discovered that these young stars

produce violent X-ray outbursts, or flares, that are much more frequent

and energetic than anything seen today from our 4.6 billion-year-old

Sun. The range of flare energies is large, with some of the stars

producing flares that are a hundred times larger than others.

Theoretical work indicates that intensely flaring stars would create

strong turbulence in any planet-forming disks around these stars and

lead to the formation of planetary systems similar to our solar system.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2005/orion/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Orion Nebula M42
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Type > Star Formation
Nebula > Appearance > Dark > Proplyd

Distance

Universescale1
1,500 light years
Chandra_283_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 5h 35m 17.0s
DEC = -5° 23’ 39.9”
Orientation
North is 0.3° CCW
Field of View
5.6 x 5.5 arcminutes
Constellation
Orion

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (Soft X-ray) 1.91 nm
Green Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (Medium X-ray) 620.0 pm
Blue Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (Hard X-ray) 210.0 pm
Spectrum_xray1
Red
Green
Blue
Chandra_283_1280
×
ID
283
Subject Category
B.4.1.2   B.4.2.3.3  
Subject Name
Orion Nebula, M42
Credits
NASA/CXC/Penn State/E.Feigelson & K.Getman et al.
Release Date
2005-05-10
Lightyears
1,500
Redshift
1,500
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2005/orion/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Chandra, Chandra, Chandra
Instrument
ACIS, ACIS, ACIS
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
X-ray, X-ray, X-ray
Bandpass
Soft X-ray, Medium X-ray, Hard X-ray
Central Wavelength
1.91, 0.62, 0.21
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
2000.0
Reference Value
83.82100866573, -5.39440574387
Reference Dimension
2400.00, 2396.00
Reference Pixel
1154.34351179152, 1283.53375720119
Scale
-0.00003858854, 0.00003858854
Rotation
0.25703539468
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
World Coordinate System resolved using PinpointWCS 0.9.0 revision 213+ by the Chandra X-ray Center
Creator (Curator)
Chandra X-ray Observatory
URL
http://chandra.harvard.edu
Name
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Email
cxcpub@cfa.harvard.edu
Telephone
617.496.7941
Address
60 Garden St.
City
Cambridge
State/Province
MA
Postal Code
02138
Country
USA
Rights
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
Publisher
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Publisher ID
chandra
Resource ID
orion.tif
Metadata Date
2012-07-25T17:32:11-04:00
Metadata Version
1.2
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
1,500 light years

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