Hubble image archive
Evolution of "Blue Lurker" Star System (Artist's Concept)
Caption Evolution of a "Blue Lurker" Star in a Triple System Panel 1: A triple star system containing three Sun-like stars. Two are very tightly orbiting. The third star has a much wider orbit. Panel 2: The close stellar pair spiral together and merge to form one more massive sta...
- Date
- Jan 13, 2025
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2025-002-01jfdmw0h7dgk67ccm3fksm5cd
Caption
Evolution of a "Blue Lurker" Star in a Triple System
Panel 1: A triple star system containing three Sun-like stars. Two are very tightly orbiting. The third star has a much wider orbit.
Panel 2: The close stellar pair spiral together and merge to form one more massive star.
Panel 3: The merged star evolves into a giant star. As the huge photosphere expands, some of the material falls onto the outer companion, causing the companion to grow larger and its rotation rate to increase.
Panels 4-5: The central merged star eventually burns out and forms a massive white dwarf, and the outer companion spirals in towards the white dwarf, leaving a binary star system with a tighter orbit.
Panel 6: The surviving outer companion is much like our Sun but nicknamed a "blue lurker." Although it is slightly brighter bluer than expected because of the earlier mass-transfer from the central star and is now rotating very rapidly, these features are subtle. The star could easily be mistaken for a normal Sun-like star despite its exotic evolutionary history.
More Images From This Period
Downloads
- Full res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (for display), 3840 X 2160, PNG (4.98 MB)
- Full res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (for print), 16000 X 9001, TIF (252.36 MB)
- Half res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (for display), 1920 X 1080, PNG (1.36 MB)
- Full res (for display), 3840 X 2160, PNG (4.99 MB)
- Full res (for print), 16000 X 9001, TIF (251.75 MB)
- Half res (for display), 1920 X 1080, PNG (1.35 MB)
- Sequence Frame 1 - Full res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (for display), 3840 X 2820, PNG (2.47 MB)
- Sequence Frame 1 - Full res (for display), 3840 X 2820, PNG (2.47 MB)
- Sequence Frame 1 - Half res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (for display), 1920 X 1410, PNG (1.12 MB)
- Sequence Frame 1 - Half res (for display), 1920 X 1410, PNG (1.10 MB)
- Sequence Frame 2 - Full res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (for display), 3840 X 2820, PNG (14.10 MB)
- Sequence Frame 2 - Full res (for display), 3840 X 2820, PNG (14.10 MB)
- Sequence Frame 2 - Half res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (for display), 1920 X 1410, PNG (3.35 MB)
- Sequence Frame 2 - Half res (for display), 1920 X 1410, PNG (3.34 MB)
- Sequence Frame 3 - Full res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (for display), 3840 X 2820, PNG (6.54 MB)
- Sequence Frame 3 - Half res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (for display), 1920 X 1410, PNG (1.71 MB)
- Sequence Frame 3 - Full res (for display), 3840 X 2820, PNG (6.54 MB)
- Sequence Frame 3 - Half res (for display), 1920 X 1410, PNG (1.70 MB)
- Sequence Frame 4 - Full res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (for display), 3840 X 2820, PNG (8.81 MB)
- Sequence Frame 4 - Half res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (for display), 1920 X 1410, PNG (1.97 MB)
- Sequence Frame 4 - Full res (for display), 3840 X 2820, PNG (8.30 MB)
- Sequence Frame 4 - Half res (for display), 1920 X 1410, PNG (1.96 MB)
- Sequence Frame 5 - Full res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (for display), 3840 X 2820, PNG (2.39 MB)
- Sequence Frame 5 - Full res (for display), 3840 X 2820, PNG (2.38 MB)
- Sequence Frame 5 - Half res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (for display), 1920 X 1410, PNG (952.42 KB)
- Sequence Frame 5 - Half res (for display), 1920 X 1410, PNG (938.63 KB)
- Sequence Frame 6 - Full res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (for display), 3840 X 2820, PNG (15.51 MB)
- Sequence Frame 6 - Half res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (for display), 1920 X 1410, PNG (3.32 MB)
- Sequence Frame 6 - Full res (for display), 3840 X 2821, PNG (16.71 MB)
- Sequence Frame 6 - Half res (for display), 1920 X 1410, PNG (3.31 MB)
Source
Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
View on NASA.gov