X-ray: NASA/CXC/John Hopkins
Univ./C.M. Lisse et al.; Infrared: NASA/ESA/STIS; Image Processing:
NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk
For the first time, a young, Sun-like star has been caught red-handed
blowing bubbles in the galaxy, by astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray
Observatory.
The bubble – called an
“astrosphere” – completely surrounds the juvenile star in this image released
on Feb. 23, 2026. Winds from the star’s surface are blowing up the bubble and
filling it with hot gas as it expands into much cooler galactic gas and dust
surrounding the star. The Sun has a similar bubble around it, which scientists
call the heliosphere, created by the solar wind. It extends far beyond the
planets in our solar system and protects Earth from cosmic radiation.
This is the first image of an
astrosphere astronomers have obtained around a star similar to the Sun. It
shows slightly extended emission, rather than a single point of light as seen
for other such stars.
Read more about this discovery.
Text credit: Lee Mohon
Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/John Hopkins Univ./C.M. Lisse et al.; Infrared: NASA/ESA/STIS; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk
Source: Blowing Stellar Bubbles - NASA
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