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Credit & Copyright: Tim Schaeffer
and the
Deep Sky Collective
Explanation:
Blasting outward from variable star KX Andromedae,
these stunning bipolar jets are 19 light-years long.
Recently
discovered,
they are revealed in unprecedented detail
in this deep telescopic image centered on KX And
and composed from over
692 hours of combined image data.
In fact, KX And is
spectroscopically
found
to be an interacting binary star system consisting
of a bright, hot B-type star with a
swollen cool giant star as its co-orbiting,
close companion.
The stellar material from the cool giant star is likely being
transferred to the hot B-type star through an
accretion disk,
with spectacular symmetric jets driven outward perpendicular to the
disk itself.
The known distance to KX And of 2,500 light-years,
angular size of the jets,
and estimated inclination of the accretion disk lead to
the size estimate for each jet of an
astonishing 19 light-years.
Free APOD Lecture in Phoenix:
Wednesday, December 10 at 7 pm
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A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: bipolar - binary star
Publications with words: bipolar - binary star
See also: