Binary Star System R Aquarii: Wide-field View | ESO

Binary Star System R Aquarii: Wide-field View | ESO

While testing a new subsystem on the SPHERE planet-hunting instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers were able to capture dramatic details of the turbulent stellar relationship in the binary star R Aquarii with unprecedented clarity—even compared to observations from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope.

The image is a color composite made from exposures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2), and shows the region surrounding R Aquarii, the vivid orange point at the center of the image.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Digitized Sky Survey 2

Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin

Release Date: December 12, 2018

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