The NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team has released a stunning image of a complex star system known as DI Cha.
This image from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys shows the quadruple star system DI Cha. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, geckzilla.org.
DI Cha, also known as Hen 3-593 or HIP 54365, is a quadruple system containing two sets of binary stars, though only two stars are apparent.
This star system lies in the constellation of Chameleon and is about 520 light-years away.
DI Cha is also a T Tauri type variable star with reference number NSV 5099. Its brightness varies from magnitude 10.65 to 10.74.
As DI Cha is a relatively young star system it is surrounded by dust. The young stars are molding the dust into a wispy wrap.
The host of this alluring interaction between dust and stars is the Chamaeleon I dark cloud – one of three such objects that comprise the huge star-forming region Chamaeleon Complex.
DI Cha’s juvenility is not remarkable within this region. In fact, the system is among not only the youngest but also the closest collections of infant stars to be found.
This image was taken using Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).
Amateur astronomer Judy Schmidt submitted a version of this image to the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition.
