Radio Observations in Chamaeleon Cloud Reveal Five Young Stars, Including a Binary System

Through the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), the scientists conducted a large-scale radio observation of the Chamaeleon cloud complex. It is a star-forming region which lies at 620 light years in the southern sky. The study was published on June 19, 2025, in the arXiv pre-print server. This research led to the discovery of five young stars. This provides a fresh insight into the stellar birth processes in the region of CCC. It consists of three major dark clouds, Cha I, Cha II, and Cha III, known for their young stellar population. It plays a vital role in the understanding of the early stellar evolution.

Stellar Activity in Chamaeleon Cloud Complex

As per the study by ATCA, it was found that Cha I is home to around 250 pre-main sequence (PMS) stars, and Cha II has fewer than 100. Cha I and Cha II are estimated to be around 2 million years old, while Cha III is believed to be at an earlier stage, with star formation still to begin. In a recent campaign, led by Ernesto Garcia Valencia, aimed to find the new young stars in this region with the help of high-resolution radio data from ATCA.

Types of Detected Stars and Their Emission Properties

Out of the five detected stars, three were categorised as low-mass T Tauri stars, known as relatively evolved young stellar objects. Another was identified as a protostellar object, while the fifth one turned out to be a Herbig Ae/Be star. The scientists observed that there were non-thermal radio emissions in most of the cases, except the protostar, which is found to emit thermal radiation.

Further observation and analysis with the help of the Australian Long Baseline Array (LBA) it was clear that one of the sources, J11061540−7721567, might be a tight binary star system. This binary consists of an estimated mass of about one solar mass, which is a semi-major axis of 12 AU with an orbital period of around 40 years.

Tentative Detections and Overall Detection Rate

In addition, this team of scientists tentatively identified five further young stars that need more confirmation. In totality, the detection rate in the surveyed region has been found to be somewhere in between 2.5% and 5%, which is slightly less than the other known star-forming areas.