- The Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of a distant star covering the shadows of the “bat wing” in space.
- The bright light from the star is hitting a debris disk surrounding the star, casting wide shadows that we can see thanks to Hubble.
- The wings even “flutter” as a result of the wavy shape of the debris ring.
Take a look at the glorious image above and see what details you can see. There are a handful of bright stars and a lot of dust and loose material floating around that could eventually merge into stars, planets, or moons. There are also some very distant stars that appear as small scattered dots. There is enough to understand that you may have missed one of the most interesting features in the image: a “bat shadow,” as NASA calls it.
Look to the right side of the image and you will see a bright dot sitting between what appear to be two very dark triangular shadows. That’s a newborn star, and the shadow cast by a large amount of orbiting material.
That so-called “bat shadow” is an indication that the star is surrounded by a disk of matter that will eventually form the characteristics we see in places like our own solar system, that is, planets, moons, and asteroids. We can see the star’s bright glow, but if we were directly in line with its disk, it could be partially enveloped in the same shadow that we see radiant on both sides.
Via NASA:
Astronomers who used previously captured Hubble images saw a remarkable image of a young star’s invisible disk, forming a planet, casting a large shadow through a more distant cloud in a star-forming region. The star is called HBC 672, and the shadow feature was nicknamed “Bat Shadow” because it resembles a pair of wings. The nickname turned out to be unexpectedly appropriate, because now those “wings” seem to be flapping!
Wait, flutter? It is true! Hubble’s observations of the distant system appear to show changes in the shape and orientation of the shadows, suggesting that the ring of debris surrounding the star is not uniform, and the light emitted by the star takes on different appearances depending on the shape. that ring. The ring oscillation may be due to a planet also orbiting the star, embedded within the debris disk.
“You have a star that is surrounded by a disk, and the disk is not like Saturn’s rings, it is not flat,” Klaus Pontoppidan of the Space Telescope Science Institute said in a statement. “It is swollen. And that means that if the star light is directed upward, it can continue upward, it is not blocked by anything. But if you try to go along the plane of the disk, it doesn’t come out and cast a shadow. “
Mike Wehner has reported on technology and video games for the past decade, covering the latest news and trends in virtual reality, handheld devices, smartphones, and future technology. Most recently, Mike served as technical editor at The Daily Dot, and has appeared on USA Today, Time.com, and countless other websites and in print. His love of reporting is second only to his addiction to games.
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