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High-Mass Stars

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NASA

Jun 13, 2016
Image Article
This illustration depicts one of the relatively high mass stars, which has a large number of flares and spots.
A new study of the TW Hya association suggests that young stars much less massive than the Sun can unleash a torrent of X-rays, which can significantly shorten the lifetime of disks surrounding them. These disks, as depicted in this artist’s illustration, are where planets will ultimately form so scientists may have to revisit the star formation.

A new study of the TW Hya association suggests that young stars much less massive than the Sun can unleash a torrent of X-rays, which can significantly shorten the lifetime of disks surrounding them. These disks, as depicted in this artist’s illustration, are where planets will ultimately form so scientists may have to revisit the star formation process and the early lives of planets around such faint stars. This new finding is based on Chandra observations of TW Hya, a sample of which is seen in the inset, and data from several other telescopes.

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/RIT/J. Kastner et al; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

Read the feature, Smaller Stars Pack Big X-ray Punch for Would-Be Planets.

View illustration of Low-Mass, Fainter Stars

Read More from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.

For more Chandra images, multimedia and related materials, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/chandra