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Illustration of a Protostar(Credit: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss)
An X-ray flare from a very young star, or "protostar," detected by Chandra may reset the timeline for when scientists think Sun-like stars start blasting high-energy radiation into space. This illustration shows HOPS 383 surrounded by a donut-shaped cocoon of material (dark brown) that is falling in towards the central star. Much of the light from the infant star is unable to pierce this material, but X-rays from the flare (blue) can. Infrared light is scattered off the inside of the cocoon (white and yellow).
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X-ray, Infrared & Optical Images of HOPS 383(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Aix-Marseille University/N. Grosso et al.; Infrared: NOAO/SOAR; Optical: DSS)
Astronomers have reported the first detection of X-rays from the earliest phase of evolution of a star like our Sun. This discovery from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory may help answer questions about the Sun and Solar System as they are today. The X-ray flare came from the young "protostar" HOPS 383, about 1,400 light years from Earth, during Chandra observations taken in December 2017, as shown in this series of images. Also shown are the wider field infrared and optical images of the area around HOPS 383.
Return to: X-rays From a Newborn Star Hint at Our Sun's Earliest Days (June 18, 2020)
Revised: November 29, 2022