DG Tau: Stellar Genesis | NASA Hubble & Chandra [Budget Alert]

DG Tau: Stellar Genesis | NASA Hubble & Chandra [Budget Alert]

DG Tauri B, near the T Tauri star DG Tauri, is a young stellar object located 450 light-years (140 parsecs) from Earth, within the Taurus constellation. Its most notable characteristics are its bipolar jets of molecular gas and dust emanating from either side of the object. Red-shifted carbon monoxide (CO) emissions extend out 6,000 astronomical units (AU) to the northwest of the object from the undetermined source, and are symmetrically distributed about the jet, while blue-shifted CO emissions are confined to a region with a roughly 500 AU radius.

Image Processor Judy Schmidt: "Star formation is very interesting to me because I think they are incredibly beautiful. Something about witnessing a moment of stellar genesis . . . it makes me feel calm. Sometimes I sit around and try to imagine the dust coalescing from all angles to form a hot disk that eventually ignites the stellar crucible while these fantastic jets blow off the poles . . . it's all said and done in a cosmic instant."

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is being canceled in NASA's Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request, along with 18 other active science missions. NASA's science budget is being reduced by nearly 50%. NASA's total budget will become the lowest since 1961, after accounting for inflation.

Contact your representatives in the United States Congress, House and Senate, to express your concerns about severe budget cuts at NASA:

https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/

NASA's Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request (PDF): https://www.nasa.gov/fy-2026-budget-request/

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, MSFC, CXC
Image Processing: Judy Schmidt
Release Date: Jan. 5, 2018

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