DG Tau

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Chandra X-ray
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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
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DG Tau: A young star in the Taurus region of star formation, about 450 light years from Earth.
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/ETH Zuerich/M.Guedel et al.; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)

Caption: Chandra’s image of DG Tau (left) reveals the first double-sided X-ray jet ever detected from a young star. The jet, which runs from the top left to the bottom right, extends about 70 billion miles away from the star. Scientists think that a similar jet may have been launched from our young Sun and could have had a significant impact on the early solar system. The artist’s illustration (right) shows the star, a disk of cool gas that surrounds DG Tau, and the inner regions of the jets. Material from the disk flows onto the star and feeds the jets that flow outward.

Scale: X-ray image is 24.5 arcsec across.

Chandra X-ray Observatory ACIS Image

CXC operated for NASA by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
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