NASA. LARGE FORMAT. This scientific photograph is a simulati - Lot 307

NASA. LARGE FORMAT. This scientific photograph is a simulation of a double star system observed by scientists and on the verge of collapse. The two stars will merge to create a single giant star, or form a binary black hole. This double star system is located around 160,000 light-years from Earth in the Tarantula Nebula. This remarkable region is the most active nursery of new stars in the nearby Universe. The centers of the stars are only 12 million kilometers apart. In fact, the stars are so close that their surfaces overlap and a bridge has formed between them. Such a system is very rare, as this phase of a star's life is short, making it difficult to catch them in the act. Astronomers predict that this double system will meet a cataclysmic fate in one of two ways. The first potential outcome is the merger of the two stars, which would probably produce a gigantic, rapidly rotating and possibly magnetic single star. The second possibility suggests that the components would probably end their lives in supernova explosions, forming a binary system close to black holes. 2017. Vintage chromogenic print. Numbering on front. Legend on back label. 40.6 x 40.6cm with margins.