Astronomers have find an astrosphere around a star resembling the Sun, marking a significant milestone in understanding stellar evolution. This finding, share during the 25 Years of Science with Chandra symposium on 3rd December, 2024, provides a rare view into the early conditions of stars like the Sun.
An astrosphere, describe as a bubble of ionised gas form by stellar wind, acts as a protective shell around stars.
This discovery has shed light on how these structures are form and their role in shielding planetary systems from cosmic radiation.
Astrospheres are create by a star’s stellar wind, a continuous stream of charged particles.
For example, the Sun’s heliosphere serves as an example, extending beyond Pluto and safeguarding the solar system from cosmic rays.
Despite extensive research, such phenomena had not observe around stars with characteristics similar to the Sun.
As per reports, Carey Lisse, a researcher at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, said in an interview with a prominent science publication that the detection of astrospheres around average stars has elusive for over two decades.
The star HD 61005, call as “The Moth” for its distinctive wing-like dust disk, became the focus of this investigation.
Its rapid movement through a dense interstellar gas cloud at approximately 10 kilometres per second has result in the unique shape of its surrounding disk.
As per sources, HD 61005, which mirrors the size and mass of the Sun, was chosen for its youthful stage at 100 million years old.
Young stars like this typically emit stronger stellar winds, providing ideal conditions for studying astrospheres.
Observations capture by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory reveal a halo of X-rays encasing HD 61005.
This structure extends nearly 100 times farther than the Sun’s heliosphere.
Contrary to expectations, the astrosphere display a spherical shape, suggesting the star’s intense wind counteracts external pressures.
The findings are believe to offer clues about the early behaviour of the Sun and its protective influences on the young Earth.
Understanding such phenomena can also aid in evaluating the habitability of planets orbiting stars with similar properties.
The study represents a leap in comprehending the protective role of astrospheres across stellar systems.
