Young stars often exhibit variations in brightness associated with their formation process. Just as human babies cry intensely and unexpectedly, these “baby stars” experience sudden bursts that cause them to shine much brighter than usual. Thanks to observations made with telescopes in Chile—in particular with the Magellan telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory and the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Paranal Observatory (ESO)—a team of astronomers from the Institute of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Valparaíso (IFA UV), together with a large international network of collaborators, discovered a young star that increased its luminosity to 100 times its normal brightness, maintaining that intensity for almost a decade.
The star, named VVV-WIT-13, is located within a dark cloud about 7,000 light-years from our solar system. The finding, led by Dr. Zhen Guo (IFA UV), will be published soon in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Also participating in the research are academic Dr. Jura Borissova, Dr. Radostin Kurtev, postdoctoral researcher Dr. Calum Morris, and graduate students in astrophysics Javier Osses (master's) and Diego Benítez (doctorate).
“With infrared data obtained over a decade in the VVV project and through high-precision observations with the Magellan telescopes, we were able to construct a detailed model of the position and evolution of this enigmatic star,” Morris said.
One of the most striking results of the study was the detection of aluminum oxide (AlO) in infrared light, never before observed in young stars. This molecule, which usually disappears quickly when it condenses into dust, was observed in an extremely fast stellar wind, traveling at 100 km/s, driven by the explosion. “This finding places VVV-WIT-13 in a new category of young stars with intermediate-duration explosions,” said Zhen Guo.
The presence of AlO in this type of object suggests unusually vigorous outflows of matter or the disruption of clumps and planetesimals during prolonged accretion episodes. These results open up new perspectives on the chemical evolution of stars, dust formation, and, eventually, the formation of young planets.
This work, already accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics (arXiv:2509.15334), reinforces the importance of observations made from Chile and, in particular, the key role of the Magellan telescopes in the study of stellar birth and evolution processes.
Source: IFA