Technology
Archived — This article has been archived. The information may be outdated.
Astronomers capture a star forming in real time
DD India··28 Jul
Indian astronomers led by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics observed a Blue Straggler Star forming inside binary system TIC 327546480, located 9,500 light-years away in star cluster Collinder 261. One star has overflowed its gravitational boundary, transferring mass onto its companion, which is growing hotter, brighter and younger. The findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Prism
What It Means For You
- The discovery adds direct evidence for a process that shapes how stars age across star clusters observed from Earth.
- India's astronomy institutions gain international recognition through a finding published in a leading astrophysics journal.
- The research shows Indian-led teams now combine data from NASA and European telescopes on equal footing.
What's Happening
- Indian astronomers led by IIA observed a Blue Straggler Star forming inside binary system TIC 327546480.
- One star has overflowed its Roche lobe, transferring mass onto its companion 9,500 light-years away.
- The findings, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, offer direct evidence for a decades-old formation theory.
A Billion-Year Process Caught Mid-Transformation
- The mass-transfer process began about 5.46 billion years ago inside a cluster now estimated at 7 billion years old.
- The Blue Straggler now weighs 1.67 times the Sun's mass, while its companion has shrunk to 0.32 solar masses.
- Lead researcher Ali Hasan Sheikh is a PhD student at Gauhati University and an INSPIRE Fellow under the DST.
all-newsdaily-roundupuplifting
