When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/John Hopkins Univ./C.M. Lisse et al.; Infrared: NASA/ESA/STIS; Optical: NSF/NoirLab/CTIO/DECaPS2; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. WolkAstronomers have captured the first views of a young sun-like star blowing bubbles, offering a rare glimpse at how our solar neighborhood might have behaved in its youth.Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, researchers observed HD 61005 — a young star located about 120 light-years from Earth with roughly the same mass and temperature as our sun — and detected a vast bubble of hot gas surrounding it. This wind-blown bubble, known as an “astrosphere,” forms when a star’s powerful stellar wind slams into surrounding interstellar gas and dust, carving out a protective cavity much like the sun’s heliosphere that shields our solar system from galactic cosmic rays, according to a statement from NASA.AdvertisementAdvertisementThis marks the first X-ray evidence of an astrosphere around a star like our sun, giving astronomers their clearest look yet at one of these stellar bubbles beyond our solar system. Chandra’s sharp X-ray vision allowed astronomers to detect faint, extended emission around HD 61005 — the glowing outline of its astrosphere. The X-rays are produced where the star’s fast, dense wind collides with colder surrounding interstellar gas. When high-speed particles from the stellar wind interact with cooler material in space, they generate the X-ray light that makes the bubble visible to Chandra.NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals the faint, extended glow of an astrosphere surrounding the young sun-like star HD 61005. The bubble forms as the star’s powerful wind collides with surrounding interstellar gas, producing X-ray emissions. | Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/John Hopkins Univ./C.M. Lisse et al.; Infrared: NASA/ESA/STIS; Optical: NSF/NoirLab/CTIO/DECaPS2; Im …
