Breaking News:NASA images Sun-like star bubble in X-rays– What Just Happened

By Alimat Aliyeva

Astronomers have captured the first detailed views of a young
sun-like star blowing massive bubbles, offering a rare glimpse into
how our own solar system may have behaved in its early years,
AzerNEWS reports, citing foreign media.

Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, researchers observed HD
61005 — located about 120 light-years from Earth and similar in
mass and temperature to our sun — and detected a vast bubble of hot
gas surrounding it. This wind-blown cavity, known as an
“astrosphere,” forms when a star’s powerful stellar wind collides
with surrounding interstellar gas and dust, carving out a
protective bubble. This is analogous to our sun’s heliosphere,
which shields the solar system from galactic cosmic rays, according
to NASA.

This observation marks the first time astronomers have found
X-ray evidence of an astrosphere around a sun-like star, providing
the clearest look yet at these stellar bubbles beyond our solar
system. Chandra’s sharp X-ray vision revealed faint, extended
emissions around HD 61005 — essentially the glowing outline of its
astrosphere. These X-rays arise where the star’s fast, dense wind
smashes into cooler surrounding gas, heating it to millions of
degrees and producing the detectable radiation.

HD 61005 is about 100 million years old, very young compared to
our 4.6-billion-year-old sun, and its stellar wind is far more
intense. Researchers estimate it blows roughly three times faster
and is about 25 times denser than the sun’s current wind. Combined
with a surrounding interstellar environment approximately a
thousand times denser than our solar neighborhood, this interaction
inflates a large, bright bubble detectable in X-rays.

“This new Chandra observation of a star similar to the sun
teaches us about the shape of our own heliosphere and how it has
evolved over billions of years as the sun moves through the
galaxy,” said lead author Carey Lisse from Johns Hopkins
University.

Astronomers have nicknamed HD 61005 the “Moth” because of its
wing-shaped debris disk, visible in infrared light. These dusty
remnants from the star’s formation appear sculpted by its motion
through space. Studying its astrosphere gives scientists a rare
window into what the early solar system may have experienced when
the young sun’s wind was stronger and interactions with surrounding
gas and dust were more dramatic.

The research also provides insights into how stellar winds can
shape planetary environments and influence the potential
habitability of planets orbiting other stars. “We are impacted by
the sun every day, not only through its light but also through its
wind, which can affect satellites and astronauts traveling to the
Moon or Mars,” said co-author Scott Wolk from the Center for
Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian. “This image of HD 61005’s
astrosphere gives us important clues about what the sun’s wind may
have been like early in its evolution.”

Interestingly, observing stars like HD 61005 allows astronomers
to test models of space weather on other worlds, hinting at how
extreme stellar winds could strip atmospheres or shape the magnetic
environments of exoplanets — a key factor in determining whether
distant planets could support life.