Orion Nebula: A rich cluster of young stars about 1,500 light years from Earth.
Caption: This Chandra image was produced by observing the Orion Nebula
almost continuously for 13 days. The long observation enabled
scientists to study the X-ray behavior of young Sun-like stars with
ages between 1 and 10 million years. They discovered that these young stars
produce violent X-ray outbursts, or flares, that are much more frequent
and energetic than anything seen today from our 4.6 billion-year-old
Sun. The range of flare energies is large, with some of the stars
producing flares that are a hundred times larger than others.
Theoretical work indicates that intensely flaring stars would create
strong turbulence in any planet-forming disks around these stars and
lead to the formation of planetary systems similar to our solar system.
Scale: X-ray image is 5.5 arcmin per side.
Chandra X-ray Observatory ACIS Image
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