This image may not be used by or to promote the arms, nuclear power or tobacco industries or any religious organisation, or in any discriminatory way,

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This image may not be used by or to promote the arms, nuclear power or tobacco industries or any religious organisation, or in any discriminatory way, or to imply the endorsement by ESO of any product, service or activity VFTS 352 double star system. Illustration of the touching stars (contact binary) in the double star system VFTS 352. This is the hottest and most massive contact binary known. The O-type system is around 160,000 light-years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud in the constellation of Dorado. It is thought that the eventual fate of the system with be either the formation of a single giant star, or a binary black hole. The discovery of VFTS 352 involved use of the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope.

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Size: 5296px × 3310px
Photo credit: © L. CALCADA/EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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