{"id":8590,"date":"2024-11-02T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-02T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=8590"},"modified":"2025-03-27T22:52:48","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T22:52:48","slug":"surrounded-by-beauty-and-wonders-t-tauri-stars-and-nebulae","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/surrounded-by-beauty-and-wonders-t-tauri-stars-and-nebulae\/","title":{"rendered":"Surrounded by Beauty and Wonders: T Tauri Stars and Nebulae"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/missions\/hubble\/hubbles-lucky-observation-of-an-enigmatic-cloud\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20241028ff\/20241028-potw1008a-jpg-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"ESA\/Hubble, R. Sahai and NASA's image from Hubble Space Telescope: reflection nebula IRAS 05437+2502, from the Wide Field Channel of the Advanced Camera for Surveys, created from images taken through yellow (F606W) and near-infrared (F814W) filters. (2010)\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Reflection nebula IRAS 05437+2502 in Taurus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;All of us dwell under the same sky. All of us are moved by the beauty revealed in the cosmos and reflected in the study of the heavenly bodies and substances. In this sense, we are united by the desire to discover the truth about how this marvellous universe operates; and in this, we draw ever closer to the Creator&#8230;.&#8221;<br>(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vatican.va\/content\/francesco\/en\/speeches\/2016\/june\/documents\/papa-francesco_20160611_scuola-estiva-astronomia-specola.html\">Address to Participants in the Summer Course of the Vatican Observatory<\/a>, Pope Francis (June 11, 2016))<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>My interest in science started as a fascination with dinosaurs. By the time I left high school, that fascination included astronomy, physics, cosmology, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My academic specialties were history and English, but I never lost my intense interest in pretty much everything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That didn&#8217;t change when I became a Catholic \u2014 partly because where my faith is involved, paying attention to the wonders and beauty surrounding us <strong>isn&#8217;t<\/strong> a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/surrounded-by-beauty-and-wonders-t-tauri-stars-and-nebulae\/#enigmatic\"><strong>The Enigmatic IRAS Ghost Nebula<\/strong><\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/surrounded-by-beauty-and-wonders-t-tauri-stars-and-nebulae\/#impressions\">Impressions<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/surrounded-by-beauty-and-wonders-t-tauri-stars-and-nebulae\/#stars\"><strong>Stars in the Making: the HP Tau Triplet<\/strong><\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/surrounded-by-beauty-and-wonders-t-tauri-stars-and-nebulae\/#more\">More Impressions<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/surrounded-by-beauty-and-wonders-t-tauri-stars-and-nebulae\/#tauri\"><strong>T Tauri Stars: What We&#8217;ve Learned So Far (Very Briefly)<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/surrounded-by-beauty-and-wonders-t-tauri-stars-and-nebulae\/#God\"><strong>God, the Universe, Science, and Me<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-black-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-black-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a name=\"enigmatic\"><\/a>The Enigmatic IRAS Ghost Nebula<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/missions\/hubble\/hubbles-lucky-observation-of-an-enigmatic-cloud\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20241028ff\/20241028-potw1008a-jpg-detail-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"ESA\/Hubble, R. Sahai and NASA's image from Hubble Space Telescope: detail, reflection nebula IRAS 05437+2502, from the Wide Field Channel of the Advanced Camera for Surveys, created from images taken through yellow (F606W) and near-infrared (F814W) filters. (2010)\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Hubble image of the reflection nebula IRAS 05437+2502, in the constellation Taurus. (2010)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A Wikipedia page says that IRAS 05437+2502 is a reflection nebula in the constellation Taurus, and that it&#8217;s occasionally called the IRAS Ghost Nebula. I&#8217;ve confirmed some of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Along the way, I learned that scientists didn&#8217;t know about IRAS 05437+2502 before 1983 \u2014 probably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1983 IRAS (Infrared Astronomical Satellite) made an all-sky survey at 12, 25, 60, and 100 micrometer wavelengths. That&#8217;s well into the infrared part of the spectrum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>IRAS spotted about 250,000 objects, including IRAS 05437+2502. It was a joint project of NASA, NIVR, and SERC \u2014 space agencies of the United States, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom \u2014 and I&#8217;m drifting off-topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;ve learned a little about IRAS 05437+2502 since 1983. That&#8217;s what I gather, at least, from the designations it&#8217;s collected: WISEA J054651.49+250347.5, 2MASXi J0546515+250347, and more alphabet-soup labels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But we haven&#8217;t learned much. Not yet. Most likely because observatories have only so much available time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This Hubble image, for example, was a &#8216;snapshot&#8217; with Hubble&#8217;s Wide Field Channel of the Advanced Camera for Surveys: something slipped into the space telescope&#8217;s schedule, with no guarantees of results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The image, released in 2010, was one of those lucky breaks. It&#8217;s from Hubble&#8217;s Wide Field Channel of the Advanced Camera for Surveys, made from separate images using yellow (F606W) and near-infrared (F814W) filters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/esahubble.org\/images\/potw1008a\/\">A lucky observation of an enigmatic cloud<\/a>&#8220;<br>Newsletters, ESA\/Hubble (June 14, 2010(?))<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;At first glance it appears to be a small, rather isolated, region of star formation and one might assume that the effects of fierce ultraviolet radiation from bright young stars probably were the cause of the eye-catching shapes of the gas. However, <strong>the bright boomerang-shaped feature may tell a more dramatic tale.<\/strong> The interaction of a high velocity young star and the cloud of gas and dust may have created this unusually sharp-edged bright arc. <strong>Such a reckless star would have been ejected from the distant young cluster where it was born and would travel at 200 000 km\/hour or more through the nebula.<\/strong>&#8230;&#8221;<br>[emphasis mine]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve found precious little specific information about IRAS 05437+2502, aside from its width in our skies, spanning &#8220;only 1\/18th of a full moon&#8221;, and it being &#8220;distant&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How distant?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I got a clue from the &#8220;AI Overview&#8221; that Google Search occasionally shows me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;AI Overview&#8221;<br>Google Search (October 29, 2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;IRAS 05437+2502, a reflection nebula in the Taurus constellation, is about 380 light-years away. A light-year is a unit of distance that measures how far light travels in one Earth year, which is roughly 6 trillion miles or 9.7 trillion kilometers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;About 380 light-years&#8221; gave me another search term: which led me to an NBC News article, from around Halloween of 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Where NBC&#8217;s &#8220;Cosmic Log&#8221; got that number, I don&#8217;t know.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/surrounded-by-beauty-and-wonders-t-tauri-stars-and-nebulae\/#1\">1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a name=\"impressions\"><\/a>Impressions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Taurus_(constellation)#Deep-sky_objects\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20241028ff\/20241029-Nebula_in_Taurus-detail-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"ESA\/Hubble, R. Sahai and NASA's image from Hubble Space Telescope: detail, reflection nebula IRAS 05437+2502, from the Wide Field Channel of the Advanced Camera for Surveys, created from images taken through yellow (F606W) and near-infrared (F814W) filters. (2010)\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">IRAS 05437+2502: dark nebula and cosmic Rorschach test.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When I look at IRAS 05437+2502, I see a cloaked and hooded figure with arms outstretched, standing above other figures walking off to its left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s not the only impression folks have gotten when viewing the dark nebula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/whats-the-explanation-for-this-spectral-hand-clutching-5617965\">What&#8217;s the explanation for this spectral hand clutching at the stars?<\/a>&#8220;<br>Alasdair Wilkins, Gizmodo (August 20, 2010)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;This nebula looks like a hand reaching out to grab the stars above it&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>When I showed IRAS 05437+2502 to my oldest daughter, she saw something else:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;Looks like the nebula&#8217;s running into some sort of crystal formation.&#8221;<br>(&#8216;Brigid&#8217;, in a Discord chat (October 29, 2024))<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that I know about those impressions, I can see &#8220;this spectral hand&#8221; and &#8220;some sort of crystal formation&#8221;. But mostly, I still see the cloaked and hooded figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whatever IRAS 05437+2502 looks like, it is a molecular cloud: a clump of stuff that&#8217;s a pretty good vacuum, but not as empty as most of the expanse between stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m guessing, based on that &#8220;380 light-years&#8221; mentioned in NBC&#8217;s &#8220;Cosmic Log&#8221;, that IRAS 05437+2502 is part of the Taurus-Auriga complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Taurus-Auriga complex, in turn, is in the Gould Belt (or Gould&#8217;s Belt, depending on who&#8217;s talking), a ring of stars and star-forming regions in our part of the Milky Way galaxy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Benjamin Gould spotted the belt in 1879. Scientists took a close look at it a little shy of two decades back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More recently, scientists working at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study put some of what we&#8217;ve learned about this part of the Milky Way galaxy through 3D software. They learned that the Gould Belt is part of a vast collection of interconnected stellar nurseries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recapping, IRAS 05437+2502 may be near, or maybe is part of, the Taurus molecular cloud. The Taurus molecular cloud is part of the Taurus-Auriga complex. The Taurus-Auriga complex is part of the Gould Belt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scientists working at Radcliffe learned that the Gould Belt is part of something even bigger: a vast collection of interconnected stellar nurseries. The scientists&#8217; location, along with the object&#8217;s shape, account for its name: the Radcliffe wave.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/surrounded-by-beauty-and-wonders-t-tauri-stars-and-nebulae\/#2\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-black-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-black-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a name=\"stars\"><\/a>Stars in the Making: the HP Tau Triplet<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/noirlab.edu\/public\/images\/iotw2301a\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20241028ff\/20241030-iotw2301a-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"KPNO\/NOIRLab\/NSF\/AURA\/T.A. Rector's image; processed by T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage\/NSF's NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF's NOIRLab), D. de Martin. Variable star HP Tau: a T Tauri star. Image created using data from the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), a Program of NSF\u2019s NOIRLab. (2023)\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">New suns, a triple-star system: Kitt Peak image of HP Tau, HP Tau G2, and HP Tau G3.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>One thing I like about astronomy, and science in general, is astronomers and scientists don&#8217;t seem bothered by scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Light from those three stars, for instance \u2014 HP Tau, HP Tau G2, HP Tau G3 \u2014 took five and half centuries to reach us; but by cosmic standards they&#8217;re almost next door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, again by cosmic standards, they&#8217;re quite young: less than 10,000,000 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They also seem to be looking at us. Or, rather, that&#8217;s what my imagination told me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a name=\"more\"><\/a>More Impressions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/image-detail\/hubble-hptau-wfc3-1-flat-finalok\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20241028ff\/20241028-hubble-hptau-wfc3-1-flat-finalok-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Image from NASA\/ESA\/G. Duchene (Universite de Grenoble I); processed by Gladys Kober (NASA\/Catholic University of America). A triple-star system: HP Tau, HP Tau G2, and HP Tau G3. HP Tau is known as a T Tauri star. (May 2024)\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">&#8220;Here&#8217;s looking at you, kid.&#8221; Hubble image of HP Tau, HP Tau G2, and HP Tau G3.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a name=\"humans\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/active-volcano-on-venus-before-and-after-images\/#2\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170501ff\/20170714-Arcimboldo_Librarian_Stokholm-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Giuseppe Arcimboldo's 'Portr\u00e4tt, karikatyr:' portrait of Wolfgang Lazius. (1562) Photo by Samuel Uhrdin, via Wikimedia Commons, used w\/o permission.\"><\/a>Humans are good at seeing patterns. Sometimes we even see familiar patterns, like faces, that aren&#8217;t really there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s almost certainly why the Hubble image of HP Tau, HP Tau G2, and HP Tau G3, reminds me of a face. And, probably, why someone else looked at the same image and saw a geode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/image-detail\/hubble-hptau-wfc3-1-flat-finalok\/\">Hubble Views the Dawn of a Sun-like Star<\/a>&#8220;<br>Explore, NASA (May 15, 2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;<strong>Looking like a glittering cosmic geode,<\/strong> a trio of dazzling stars blaze from the hollowed-out cavity of a reflection nebula in this new image from NASA&#8217;s Hubble Space Telescope. The triple-star system is made up of the variable star HP Tau, HP Tau G2, and HP Tau G3. <strong>HP Tau is known as a T Tauri star,<\/strong> a type of young variable star that hasn&#8217;t begun nuclear fusion yet but is beginning to evolve into a hydrogen-fueled star similar to our Sun. <strong>T Tauri stars tend to be younger than 10 million years old<\/strong> \u2014 in comparison, our Sun is around 4.6 billion years old \u2014 and are often found still swaddled in the clouds of dust and gas from which they formed&#8230;.&#8221;<br>[emphasis mine]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Before reining myself in, I found that scientists have been paying more than casual attention to HP Tau and its neighbors.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/surrounded-by-beauty-and-wonders-t-tauri-stars-and-nebulae\/#3\">3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-black-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-black-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a name=\"tauri\"><\/a>T Tauri Stars: What We&#8217;ve Learned So Far (Very Briefly)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.astro.sunysb.edu\/fwalter\/TMP\/ss2.ppt.pdf\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20241028ff\/20241028-SomeContextStarFormationDiagram-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Illustration used in online resource 'Spectra of the T Tauri Stars', Frederick M. Walter, Professor of Astronomy, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University. This illustration may be from 'First GASPs of Star Formation in Taurus', Adele Plunkett, Daily Paper Summaries (July 20, 2012)  \"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">T Tauri stars in context: dark cloud to young stellar system in six steps.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I also found a few comparatively non-nerdy discussions of T Tauri stars, including a couple using that six-step &#8220;cartoon&#8221;, and put links in the footnotes.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/surrounded-by-beauty-and-wonders-t-tauri-stars-and-nebulae\/#4\">4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are a couple excerpts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>Caption for &#8220;a. dark cloud&#8221; &#8211; &#8220;f. young stellar system&#8221;<\/strong><br>&#8220;Cartoon of star formation, showing the molecular cloud that begins to gravitationally collapse, forming a Class 0\/I star in the upper row, and progressing through Class II (a.k.a. T Tauri star), pre-main-sequence and finally stellar system (with planets forming from the dusty surroundings) on the bottom row.&#8221;<br>(&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/astrobites.org\/2012\/07\/20\/first-gasps-of-star-formation-in-taurus\/\">First GASPs of Star Formation in Taurus<\/a>&#8221; , Adele Plunkett, Daily Paper Summaries, astrobites (July 20, 2012))<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;A T Tauri star is a very young, lightweight star, less than 10 million years old and under 3 solar masses, that it still undergoing gravitational contraction; it represents an intermediate stage between a protostar and a mid-mass main sequence star like the Sun. T Tauri stars are found only in nebulas or very young clusters, have low-temperature (G to M type) spectra with strong emission lines and broad absorption lines&#8230;.&#8221;<br>(&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/chandra.si.edu\/edu\/formal\/stellar_ev\/story\/index5.html\">Stellar Evolution \u2014 Cycles of Formation and Destruction<\/a>&#8220;, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Smithsonian Institution)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>I ran across HL Tauri, another T Tauri star, while writing this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ran across discussions of it, actually, not the star itself. HL Tauri is about 450 light-years away \u2014 about seven times farther than Aldebaran, but in the same general direction. That may be close on a cosmic scale, but it&#8217;s far beyond our reach at the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Assuming our models of stellar evolution are moderately accurate, HL Tauri is less than 1,000,000 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since it&#8217;s got a protoplanetary disk with gaps where planets may be forming, HL Tauri is a bit of a puzzle. The star looks younger than its protoplanetary disk would suggest, so our models of stellar evolution may need more tweaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Taurus_(constellation)\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20241028ff\/20241028-Taurus_IAU-svg-HL_Tauri-IRAS_05437-T_Tauri-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"IAU, Sky and Telescope magazine (Roger Sinnott, Rick Fienberg)'s star chart: constellation Taurus. Three T Tauri stars circled: HL Tauri, red; IRAS 05437+2502, green; T Tauri, blue.\"><\/a>And there you have it. T Tauri stars are young stars with a mass less than three times that of our Sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They&#8217;re still collapsing, and haven&#8217;t started &#8216;burning&#8217; hydrogen yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They&#8217;re named after T Tauri, about 471 light-years away, also in the general direction of Aldebaran. T Tauri the first star studied and defined as being this type.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/surrounded-by-beauty-and-wonders-t-tauri-stars-and-nebulae\/#5\">5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I circled the location of three stars I&#8217;ve mentioned today on that IAU\/Sky &amp; Telescope star chart: HL Tauri, red; IRAS 05437+2502, green; and T Tauri, blue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-black-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-black-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a name=\"God\"><\/a>God, the Universe, Science, and Me<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/hubblesite.org\/contents\/media\/images\/2000\/32\/1000-Image.html?news=true\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20241028ff\/20241030-STScI-01EVT9T5HZWT5352JRQZMZ597K-trim-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"NASA\/John Krist\/Karl Stapelfeldt\/Jeff Hester\/Chris Burrows's images and caption. From Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2: young binary star system XZ Tauri blowing bubbles of glowing gas in the years 1995, 1998, and 2000.\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">XZ Tauri blowing bubbles in the years 1995, 1998, and 2000. Hubble Space Telescope images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When my oldest daughter and I were talking about IRAS 05437+2502, she mentioned that some folks see learning how stuff works as a threat to their sense of wonder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She didn&#8217;t phrase it that way. More like their feeling that there&#8217;s an inverse correlation between a sense of wonder and detailed knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then our conversation wandered off in the general direction of psychological quirks and neurological oddities. Neither of us are particularly near the 50th percentile, and that&#8217;s another topic or three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In my case, knowing that a candle&#8217;s flame is bright because of a chemical reaction, and the sun is bright because hydrogen nuclei are fusing in its core, doesn&#8217;t keep me from using their light \u2014 and admiring them as two of the wonders that fill this universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That admiration, in turn, for me, inspires respect for God \u2014 whose power and beauty is reflected in everything we can perceive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;God himself created the visible world in all its richness, diversity, and order. Scripture presents the work of the Creator symbolically as a succession of six days of divine &#8216;work,&#8217; concluded by the &#8216;rest&#8217; of the seventh day. On the subject of\u200b creation, the sacred text teaches the truths revealed by God for our salvation, permitting us to &#8216;recognize the inner nature, the value, and the ordering of the whole of creation to the praise of God.'&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;<strong>The beauty of the universe:<\/strong> The order and harmony of the created world results from the diversity of beings and from the relationships which exist among them. Man discovers them progressively as the laws of nature. They call forth the admiration of scholars. The beauty of creation reflects the infinite beauty of the Creator and ought to inspire the respect and submission of man&#8217;s intellect and will.&#8221;<br>(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 337, 341)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><a name=\"paying\"><\/a><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20190304ff\/LH_95-detail329x329-GreaterAdmirarion-2.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"NASA\/ESA's image, detail: LH 95 stellar nursery in the Large Magellanic Cloud. (December 2006) Paraphrase from Catechism of the Catholic Church, 283: '...These discoveries invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator, prompting us to give him thanks for all his works and for the understanding and wisdom he gives to scholars and researchers...'. see https:\/\/www.vaticanobservatory.org\/education\/catechism-catholic-church-references-science\/\">Paying attention to God&#8217;s universe is not a new idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air, amply spread around everywhere, question the beauty of the sky, question the serried ranks of the stars &#8230; question all these things. They all answer you, &#8216;Here we are, look; we&#8217;re beautiful.&#8217;&#8230;<br>&#8220;&#8230;<strong>Prayer:<\/strong><br>&#8220;O God, You are never far from those who sincerely search for You. Accompany those who err and wander far from You. Turn their hearts towards what is right and let them see the signs of Your Presence in the beauty of created things. We ask this&#8230;.&#8221;<br>(&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/spirit\/documents\/spirit_20000721_agostino_en.html\">The beauty of the unchangeable creator is to be inferred from the beauty of the changeable creation<\/a> &#8221; , St. Augustine, Sermons, 241, Easter (c.411 A.D.))<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The heavens declare the glory of God;<br>the firmament proclaims the works of his hands.&#8221; <br>(<a href=\"https:\/\/bible.usccb.org\/bible\/psalms\/19#23019002\">Psalms 19:2<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers,<br>the moon and stars that you set in place\u2014<br>&#8220;What is man that you are mindful of him,<br>and a son of man that you care for him?<br>&#8220;Yet you have made him little less than a god,<br>crowned him with glory and honor.&#8221;<br>(<a href=\"https:\/\/bible.usccb.org\/bible\/psalms\/8#23008004\">Psalms 8:4<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"https:\/\/bible.usccb.org\/bible\/psalms\/8#23008006\">6<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Neither is recognizing that God is large and in charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;Indeed, before you the whole universe is like a grain from a balance,<br>or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.&#8221;<br>(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/wisdom\/11#27011022\">Wisdom 11:22<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Our God is in heaven <br>and does whatever he wills.&#8221;<br>(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/psalms\/115#23115003\">Psalms 115:3<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>I don&#8217;t see that changing, no matter how much we learn about T Tauri stars, candle flames, or anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Basically, regarding science and religion \u2014 paying attention to the beauty and wonders surrounding us makes sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve talked about this before. Often:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/squishy-stars-science-and-sirach\/\">Squishy Stars, Science, and Sirach<\/a>&#8221; <br>(August 24, 2024)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/science-religion-and-saying-goodbye-to-the-19th-century\/\">Science, Religion, and Saying Goodbye to the 19th Century<\/a>&#8221; <br>(May 25, 2024)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/eclipse-2024-science-the-news-faith-and-me\/\">Eclipse 2024: Science, the News, Faith, and Me<\/a>&#8221; <br>(April 6, 2024)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/exoplanets-dust-and-who-sees-data-first\/\">Exoplanets, Dust, and Who Sees Data First?<\/a>&#8221; <br>(February 11, 2023)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/a-star-by-any-other-name-and-a-galilean-interlude\/\">A Star by Any Other Name, and a Galilean Interlude<\/a>&#8221; <br>(November 13, 2021)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-black-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-black-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>1<\/sup> More than you need, or maybe want, to know about:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Advanced_Camera_for_Surveys\">Advanced Camera for Surveys<\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Advanced_Camera_for_Surveys#Wide_Field_Channel_(WFC)\">Wide Field Channel (WFC)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Galactic coordinate system (Referred to as &#8220;Gal coord.&#8221; in the SIMBAD Astronomical Database.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ghost_Nebula\">Ghost Nebula<\/a> (Not IRAS 05437+2502: this one&#8217;s in the constellation Cephus.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hubble_Space_Telescope\">Hubble Space Telescope<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Infrared\">Infrared<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/IRAS\">IRAS<\/a> (AKA WISEA J054651.49+250347.5)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/IRAS_05437%2B2502\">IRAS 05437+2502<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Light-year\">Light-year<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/NASA\">NASA<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Netherlands_Agency_for_Aerospace_Programmes\">Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programmes<\/a> (&#8220;This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations&#8230;.&#8221;) (NIVR, NSO after July 1, 2009.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Reflection_nebula\">Reflection nebula<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Science_and_Engineering_Research_Council\">Science and Engineering Research Council<\/a> (SERC)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wide-field_Infrared_Survey_Explorer\">Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer<\/a> (Space telescope, source for the WISE catalogs.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/simbad.u-strasbg.fr\/simbad\/sim-id?Ident=IRAS+05437%2B2502\">IRAS 05437+2502<\/a> SIMBAD basic, SIMBAD Astronomical Database \u2014 CDS (Strasbourg)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/ned.ipac.caltech.edu\/byname?objname=IRAS+05437%2B2502&amp;hconst=67.8&amp;omegam=0.308&amp;omegav=0.692&amp;wmap=4&amp;corr_z=1\">Results for object WISEA J054651.49+250347.5 (IRAS 05437+2502)<\/a> (AKA: 2MASXi J0546515+250347, 2MASS J05465152+2503475, 2MASS J05465163+2503454) Detailed Information for a Named Object, NASA\/IPAC Extragalactic Database [&#8220;Extragalactic&#8221; in the name notwithstanding, WISEA J054651.49+250347.5 \/ IRAS 05437+2502 is, as far as I can tell, in the Milky Way galaxy, practically next door by cosmic standards]<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpl.nasa.gov\/missions\/infrared-astronomical-satellite-iras\/\">IRAS: Infrared Astronomical Satellite<\/a> Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, NASA<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Explore, NASA\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/missions\/hubble\/hubbles-lucky-observation-of-an-enigmatic-cloud\/\">Hubble&#8217;s Lucky Observation of an Enigmatic Cloud<\/a>&#8221; (August 31, 2018)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/image-article\/into-night-2\/\">Into the Night<\/a>&#8221; (August 18, 2010)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/science\/cosmic-log\/spooky-stuff-nasa-flna6c10403608\">Spooky stuff from NASA<\/a>&#8221; Cosmic Log, NBC News (October 29, 2010)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/esahubble.org\/images\/potw1008a\/\">A lucky observation of an enigmatic cloud<\/a>&#8221; Newsletters, ESA\/Hubble (June 14, 2010?)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I&#8217;ve talked about star names and the alphabet soup star designations astronomers use\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/a-star-by-any-other-name-and-a-galilean-interlude\/\">A Star by Any Other Name, and a Galilean Interlude<\/a>&#8221; (November 13, 2021)\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/a-star-by-any-other-name-and-a-galilean-interlude\/#one\">One Star, Many Names: Canicula, Mrgavyadha, BD-16\u00b01591&#8230;<\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/a-star-by-any-other-name-and-a-galilean-interlude\/#old\">Old and New Names<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/a-star-by-any-other-name-and-a-galilean-interlude\/#designations\">Designations<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/a-star-by-any-other-name-and-a-galilean-interlude\/#gods\">Gods and Dogs<\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/a-star-by-any-other-name-and-a-galilean-interlude\/#patterns\">Patterns in the Sky<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/a-star-by-any-other-name-and-a-galilean-interlude\/#orion\">Orion\u2019s Many Names<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/a-star-by-any-other-name-and-a-galilean-interlude\/#sirius\">Sirius: One of 9,999 Visible Stars<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/a-star-by-any-other-name-and-a-galilean-interlude\/#exceptional\">The Exceptional Few Stars With Names<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>2<\/sup> Learning about our cosmic neighborhood:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Auriga\">Auriga<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gould_Belt\">Gould Belt<\/a> (A ring of stars in the Milky Way galaxy, overlapping the Radcliffe wave.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gould_Belt_Survey\">Gould Belt Survey<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Harvard_Radcliffe_Institute\">Harvard Radcliffe Institute<\/a> (This article contains promotional content.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Harvard_University\">Harvard University<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Interstellar_cloud\">Interstellar cloud<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Interstellar_medium\">Interstellar medium<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Milky_Way\">Milky Way<\/a> (The galaxy I call home.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Molecular_cloud\">Molecular cloud<\/a> (If stars are forming inside, the molecular cloud is a stellar nursery.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Orion_Arm\">Orion Arm<\/a> (AKA Orion-Cygnus Arm, just outboard of the Solar System in the Milky Way galaxy.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Radcliffe_College\">Radcliffe College<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Radcliffe_wave\">Radcliffe wave<\/a> (An area of stellar nurseries in the Milky Way galaxy, about 8,800 light years long. Discovery published in 2020.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rorschach_test\">Rorschach test<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Star_formation#Stellar_nurseries\">Star formation<\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Star_formation#Stellar_nurseries\">Stellar nurseries<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Taurus_(constellation)\">Taurus (constellation)<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Taurus_molecular_cloud\">Taurus molecular cloud<\/a> (It&#8217;s also in the constellation Auriga.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Center for Astrophysics, Harvard &amp; Smithsonian\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfa.harvard.edu\/research\/goulds-belt-survey\">Gould&#8217;s Belt Survey<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lweb.cfa.harvard.edu\/~kenyon\/sf\/tau\/taurus.html\">Star Formation in the Taurus-Auriga Dark Clouds<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/ui.adsabs.harvard.edu\/abs\/2021yCat..51620110K\/abstract\">VizieR Online Data Catalog: Gaia EDR3 census of the Taurus-Auriga complex (Krolikowski+, 2021) <\/a>&#8221; <br>D. M. Krolikowski, A. L. Kraus, A. C. Rizzuto; Abstract; ads (astrophysics data system) (2021)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/whats-the-explanation-for-this-spectral-hand-clutching-5617965\">What&#8217;s the explanation for this spectral hand clutching at the stars?<\/a>&#8221; <br>Alasdair Wilkins, Gizmodo (August 20, 2010)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>3<\/sup> Analysis, patterns, perception; and a famous quote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Casablanca_(film)\">Casablanca (film)<\/a> (1942)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Geode\">Geode<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pareidolia\">Pareidolia<\/a> (Seeing patterns that aren&#8217;t really there.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/simbad.u-strasbg.fr\/simbad\/sim-basic?Ident=V*+HP+Tau&amp;submit=SIMBAD+search\">Quotes, Casablanca<\/a> <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>(&#8220;Here&#8217;s looking at you, kid.&#8221;) IMDB.com<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/image-detail\/hubble-hptau-wfc3-1-flat-finalok\/\">Hubble Views the Dawn of a Sun-like Star<\/a>&#8221; <br>Explore, NASA (May 15, 2024)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/simbad.u-strasbg.fr\/simbad\/sim-basic?Ident=V*+HP+Tau&amp;submit=SIMBAD+search\">V* HP Tau &#8212; Orion Variable<\/a> <br>SIMBAD basic, SIMBAD Astronomical Database \u2014 CDS (Strasbourg)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>arXiv\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/pdf\/1911.12378\">Dymanical Masses of Young Stars II: Young Taurus Binaries Hubble 4, FF Tau, and HP Tau\/G3<\/a> &#8221; ; Rosa M. Torres, Laurent Loinard, Amy J. Mioduszewski, Luis F. Rodriguez (draft version December 2, 2019)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/0903.5338\">VLBA determination of the distance to nearby star-forming regions III. HP Tau\/G2 and the three-dimensional structure of Taurus<\/a> &#8221; ; Aaron C. Rizzuto1, Trent J. Dupuy, Michael J. Ireland, Adam L. Kraus (submitted March 30, 2009)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>4<\/sup> T Tauri stars, mostly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Stellar_evolution\">Stellar evolution<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Resources, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Smithsonian Institution\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/chandra.si.edu\/resources\/glossaryT.html\">Glossary<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/chandra.si.edu\/edu\/formal\/stellar_ev\/story\/index5.html\">Stellar Evolution \u2014 Cycles of Formation and Destruction<\/a>&#8220;, Young Stellar objects<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.astro.sunysb.edu\/fwalter\/TMP\/ss2.ppt.pdf\">Spectra of the T Tauri Stars<\/a>&#8221; <br>Frederick M. Walter; Professor of Astronomy; Department of Physics and Astronomy; Stony Brook University; Stony Brook, New York<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/astrobites.org\/2012\/07\/20\/first-gasps-of-star-formation-in-taurus\/\">First GASPs of Star Formation in Taurus<\/a>&#8221; <br>Adele Plunkett, Daily Paper Summaries, astrobites (July 20, 2012)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>5<\/sup> Stars, a nebula, and a little cosmology:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Aldebaran\">Aldebaran<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/HL_Tauri\">HL Tauri<\/a> (A T Tauri star, about 450 light-years out, in the Taurus molecular cloud.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nebular_hypothesis\">Nebular hypothesis<\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nebular_hypothesis#Formation_of_planets\">Formation of planets<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Protoplanetary_disk\">Protoplanetary disk<\/a> (A planetary system under construction, sort of.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Stellar_evolution\">Stellar evolution<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/T_Tauri\">T Tauri<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Taurus_molecular_cloud\">Taurus molecular cloud<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfa.harvard.edu\/news\/t-tauri-stars\">T-Tauri Stars<\/a>&#8221; <br>Science Update, News, Center for Astrophysics, Harvard &amp; Smithsonian (October 6, 2016)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;&#8230;All of us dwell under the same sky. All of us are moved by the beauty revealed in the cosmos and reflected in the study of the heavenly bodies and substances. In this sense, we are united by the desire &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/surrounded-by-beauty-and-wonders-t-tauri-stars-and-nebulae\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"Images of T Tauri stars HP Tau, XZ Tauri, IRAS 05437+2502, and the IRAS Ghost Nebula. Science, faith, and why paying attention to this universe makes sense.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Surrounded by Beauty and Wonders: T Tauri Stars and Nebulae","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[215,154,4],"tags":[38,64,22,143],"class_list":["post-8590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-being-catholic","category-discursive-detours","category-science-news","tag-astronomy","tag-faith","tag-science","tag-stars"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Dwtw-2ey","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8590"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9014,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8590\/revisions\/9014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}