BP Piscium, Evolved Sun-like Star, Optical
BP Piscium (BP Psc), a more evolved version of our Sun about 1,000 light years from Earth. Optical data from the 3-meter Shane telescope at Lick Observatory are shown in orange, green and blue. BP Psc is surrounded by a dusty and gaseous disk and has a pair of jets several light years long blasting out of the system. Because of the dusty disk, the star's surface is obscured in optical and near-infrared light. The disk and the jets, seen distinctly in the optical data, provide evidence for a recent and catastrophic interaction in which BP Psc consumed a nearby star or giant planet. This happened when BP Psc ran out of nuclear fuel and expanded into its "red giant" phase. Jets and a disk are often characteristics of very young stars, so astronomers thought BP Psc might be one as well. However, the new Chandra results argue against this interpretation, because the X-ray source is fainter than expected for a young star. Another argument previously used against the possible youth of BP Psc was that it is not located near any star-forming cloud and there are no other known young stars in its immediate vicinity. Release date September 14, 2010.
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Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: 2010, 21st, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, body, bp, celestial, century, deep, disc, disk, evolved, gaseous, giant, heavenly, image, jets, luminous, main-sequence, object, optical, pair, piscium, psc, science, sky, space, star, sun-
