HD 98800 star system. Artwork, based on Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) infrared observations, of the dust rings surrounding a binary star system in the

---

HD 98800 star system. Artwork, based on Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) infrared observations, of the dust rings surrounding a binary star system in the four-star HD 98800 system. The other two stars, also forming a binary pair, are at upper right. These four stars are all a young star type known as a T-Tauri. The SST observations, because they were carried out in infrared, revealed gaps in the dust disc that indicate that planets may have formed. One of the planets would be orbiting at a distance similar to the Mars-Sun distance in our own Solar System. The HD 98800 system is about 150 light years from Earth, in the constellation Hydra.

---

Size: 3310px × 2648px
Photo credit: © NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 98800, alien, artwork, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, binary, disc, double, dust, exoplanets, extrasolar, formation, hd, hydra, hydrae, illustration, infrared, planet, planetary, protoplanetary, protoplanets, research, ring, science, space, spitzer, sst, star, stellar, system, tauri, telescope, tw, universe