Artist’s animation: the violent history of stellar pair HD 148937

This animation shows the violent event that changed the fate of the stellar system HD 148937. Originally, the system had at least three stars, two of them close together and another one much more distant, until one day the two inner stars clashed and merged. This violent event created a new, larger and magnetic star, now in pair with the more distant one. The merger also released the materials that created the spectacular nebula now surrounding the stars. While the animations of the merger event and the birth of the nebula are artist’s impressions, the view of the nebula at the end is based on a real image from the VLT Survey Telescope, hosted at ESO’s Paranal site. For more details, check: Credit: ESO/L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser/VPHAS team. Acknowledgement: CASU