In a world that seems to be switching focus from the Hubble Space Telescope to the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble still reminds us it's there. Another that shows the triple-star system HP Tau, HP Tau G2, and HP Tau G3. The stars in this wonderful system are young, HP Tau for example is so young that it hasn't started to fuse hydrogen yet and is only 10 million years old! Hubble was launched in 1990 and since then, has revolutionised our understanding of the Universe.
It orbits Earth at an altitude of around 547 kilometres and from that position has provided us stunning views of objects across the cosmos. It is about the size of a classic British double decker bus and at its core, a 2.4m mirror.
The mirror collects incoming light from distant objects before directing it to one of a number of instruments that record and analyse it. The image recently released shows a wonderful example of a reflection nebula 550 light-years away in Taurus. These particular types of nebula are made up of interstellar dust that reflect light from nearby stars, unlike emission nebula which glow in their own right.
They have a characteristic blue hue to them due to the reflective properties of the dust. Looking at the image you can easily imagine a hollowed out cavity in the nebula that has been carved by the young stars. The triple stars at the heart of the system, HP Tau, HP Tau G2 and HP Tau G3 are young hot stars.
HP Tau is a type of variable star known as a T Tau star. They are a type of st.
