News Astronomy

Fountains of spewing gas provide look at megastar formation

Images taken 18 years apart show burst of activity in a young, massive star

Young Star

FOUNTAINS OF YOUTH   An expanding bubble of gas from a young star, illustrated, hugged the star in 1996 (left) but by 2014 (right) had erupted into fountains after running into a dusty disk (shown with a cutaway).

Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF

By Christopher Crockett

- More than 2 years ago

Dramatic changes around a young, massive star are giving astronomers a rare real-time look at how these stellar behemoths develop.