A Multiple-Star System Forms in Barnard 5
The Barnard 5 complex of gas is in the process of becoming a multiple-star system. B5 is a molecular cloud located in the constellation Perseus, approximately 800 light-years away. It contains one young protostar and three dense condensations that astronomers say will collapse into stars in the astronomically-short period of 40,000 years. Astronomers discovered that filaments of gas in the cloud are fragmenting, and the fragments are beginning to form into additional stars that will become a multiple-star system.
Credit: B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF); ESA
| Technical Details | |
|---|---|
| Telescope | VLA; GBT; Herschel |
| Band | NH3; NH3; - |
| Date | 2011-10-16T05:29:40.500000; 2009-01-24; - |
| Center | RA: 3:47:40, Dec: 32:52:50.81 |
| Field of View | 4.2 x 6.3 arcminutes |
