This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image records a triple-star galaxy. Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Duchene (Universite de Grenoble I); Image Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)NASAs Hubble Space Telescope recorded a striking picture of a trio of stars, consisting of the variable star HP Tau, in a reflection nebula. These young T Tauri stars, not yet undergoing nuclear fusion, are still shrouded in the remnants of the dust and gas clouds from which they formed, highlighting the early stages of star development and planetary disk development.Resembling a glittering cosmic geode, a spectacular trio of stars blaze from the hollowed-out cavity of a reflection nebula in this new image recorded by NASAs Hubble Space Telescope. This triple-star system is made up of the variable star HP Tau, HP Tau G2, and HP Tau G3. HP Tau is known as a T Tauri star, a kind of young variable star that hasnt yet begun nuclear fusion but is beginning to develop into a hydrogen-fueled star similar to our Sun.T Tauri stars are generally younger than 10 million years old. In contrast, our Sun is around 4.6 billion years of ages. They are often discovered still covered in the clouds of dust and gas from which they formed.The box in the ground-based image exposes the place of Hubbles view within the larger context of this triple-star system. Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Duchene (Universite de Grenoble I); Image Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America); Inset: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/ AURA/T. A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSFs NOIRLab)As with all variable stars, HP Taus brightness changes with time. T Tauri stars are understood to have both regular and random fluctuations in brightness. The random variations might be due to the disorderly nature of an establishing young star, such as instabilities in the accretion disk of dust and gas around the star, product from that disk falling onto the star and being taken in, and flares on the stars surface area. The periodic changes may be due to huge sunspots turning in and out of view.Curving around the stars, a cloud of gas and dust shines with their reflected light. Reflection nebulae do not release visible light of their own, however shine as the light from neighboring stars bounces off the gas and dust, like fog lit up by the glow of a vehicles headlights.HP Tau is located approximately 550 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. Hubble studied HP Tau as part of an examination into protoplanetary disks, the disks of material around stars that coalesce into worlds over millions of years.
