Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC)

This illustration depicts X-ray superflares in the DQ Tau binary system. In the picture, brilliant coronal loops of hot plasma emerge from each young star, following their strong magnetic fields. These loops are thought to extend up to 10 times the radii of their host stars, vastly larger than anything seen around our own Sun. Additional, smaller loops are seen dotting the stars' surfaces during this period of closest approach.

These still-forming stars orbit one another about every two weeks in highly elongated orbits. At closest approach they pass within only of 810 stellar radii of one another, triggering the superflare activity.

While X-ray superflares have been observed around other stars, they are relatively rare and unpredictable. The known schedule of DQ Tau helps astronomers plan and coordinate observations between multiple observatories, including the NuSTAR, Swift, and Chandra X-ray telescopes. This predictable timing makes DQ Tau a uniquely useful laboratory for their study.

The DQ Tau system is at a distance of 650 light years in the constellation of Taurus.

Provider: Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array

Image Source: https://nustar.caltech.edu/image/nustar240913a

Curator: NuSTAR

Image Use Policy: https://www.nustar.caltech.edu/page/image_use_policy