Astronomers were quite excited when they recently observed a multiple star system and witnessed their formation during the earliest stages for the first time ever.

The most common type of interstellar systems found in the Milky Way Galaxy are multiple star systems that have two or more stars orbiting each other. This formation has remained an enigma for scientists until now.

Like Us on Facebook

A team of scientists used the Very Large Array; the Green Bank Telescope and the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii to unravel the mystery as they studied a dense core of gas named Barnard 5. This object is located in a region where young stars constantly form. It's in the constellation Perseus some 800 light years away from Earth.

When researchers were mapping radio emissions emitted by methane molecules in the vicinity of the proto star, they detected some fragmented filaments consisting of gas condensing into a four star formation.

The gases from the condensations will collapse from its own gravitational forces and will form new stars for the next 40,000 years, a relatively short time in astronomical terms. The stars are separated from each other by distances ranging from 3,000 to 11,000 astronomical units. One astronomical unit is equal to 150 million kilometers, which is also the exact distance of the Earth to the Sun.

Using high resolution observations of Barnard 5, the team could visually take note of the activity inside the star system.

According to study lead author Jaime Pineda from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, star systems with more than three stars easily become unstable, meaning a four star system won't last very long. This particular formation will at least form a binary star system.

The authors believe these stars will eventually form a mass between one tenth and one third of the Sun. This study was published in the journal, Nature.

TagsScientists Witness Quadruple Star System Formation for the First Time Ever, barnard 5, birth of a multiple star system, first stage of creation multiple star system, tatooine star system