ASTRONOMY: Classic T Tauri Star

Classic T Tauri Star. This image is 500 x 421 pixels; the original measures 2,000 x 1,684 pixels.

Classic T Tauri star. Our own Sun may have looked like this some 4,500,000,000 years ago. The star is forming from a swirling disk of material. As the accreting material approaches the star, it follows the stars magnetic field lines to crash in an arc near the pole. Material is also thrown out from the star along the field lines.