© MPIfR/ESO/NASAZooming in the center of the Orion star-forming region with the four bright Trapezium stars (Theta 1 Ori A-D). The dominant star is Theta 1 Ori C, which was imaged with unprecedented resolution with the VLT interferometer (lower right).
Astronomers have captured the sharpest image of a young binary star in the heart of Orion, in which one can clearly distinguish the two stars of the system.
The new image of the double star, Theta 1 Orionis C, was taken with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI), astronomers from the Max-Planck-Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, reported in the journal
Astronomy and Astrophysics on Thursday.
Theta 1 Orionis C represents the brightest and most massive star in Orion Trapezium Cluster, the nearest high-mass stars-forming region to Earth, and scientists describe it as a unique laboratory for studying the formation process of massive stars in detail.