Day 23 of the Space Telescope Advent Calendar 2024: Spray of glowing filaments

Day 23 of the Space Telescope Advent Calendar 2024: Glowing Filament Spray R Aquarii is a biological binary star approximately 700 light-years from Earth, surrounded by a large, energetic nebula. Primary stars are very old red giants. And its companion is a compact, burning star called a white dwarf. As the white dwarf swings closest to the red giant during its 44-year orbit, it sucks out hydrogen gas through gravity. This material accumulates in the accretion disk surrounding the white dwarf until a powerful explosion and ejection of the jet occurs. This explosion releases a powerful jet. They can be seen as fibers that shoot out from the binary system. Form rings and paths as the plasma emerges in the beam.

View the full Advent calendar here. A new photo will be revealed every day until December 25th.