--- description: A massive, bright, star in the Milky Way has been puzzling scientists for over a decade. title: Mysterious Milky Way Star: Very Old or Very Young? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77ef30eb0b6424aa/6988a4342dce01f92f9ea79b/spitzer-star.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Space](/tag/space/) ## Space Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Mysterious Milky Way Star: Very Old or Very Young? by [Marisa Gertz](/author/marisa-gertz/) ## Marisa Gertz Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 30, 2016 7:37 PM CUT  An age-defying star designated as IRAS 19312+1950 exhibits features characteristic of a very young star and a very old star. An age-defying star designated as IRAS 19312+1950 exhibits features characteristic of a very young star and a very old star.NASA/JPL-Caltech by [Marisa Gertz](/author/marisa-gertz/) ## Marisa Gertz Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 30, 2016 7:37 PM CUT 12,000 light-years from Earth, in the [Milky Way](http://time.com/4232615/milky-way-galaxy-new-photo/ "undefined"), lies a star 10 times as massive as the sun and emits 20,000 times as much energy. It has been puzzling scientists for over a decade. The star glows bright orange in the center of the image above, taken by [NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope](http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/nasa-team-probes-peculiar-age-defying-star "undefined"), and is surrounded by a cloud of chemically rich material, shown in vivid green. The questions scientists are asking is: is this massive star very old or very young? At first, evidence seemed to suggest that the star was old, in the last stages of its life. Scientists noted the presence of masers, intense radio sources that are observed almost exclusively in late-stage stars. However, the composition of the cloud surrounding the star suggested youth—a protostar, and further observations in [infrared](http://time.com/4379755/july-4th-space-photography/ "undefined"), the wavelength Spitzer operates in, buoyed the case for a young star. Peering through the dust and ice in infrared revealed that the star was much brighter than originally thought and revealed that the cloud was collapsing, which happens when a star is growing. “No matter how one looks at this object, it’s fascinating, and it has something new to tell us about the life cycles of stars,” said [Steven Charnley](http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/nasa-team-probes-peculiar-age-defying-star "undefined"), a Goddard astrochemist and co-author of the paper in the Astrophysical Journal describing the team’s findings. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4472656/milky-way-star-spitzer-space-telescope/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4472656/milky-way-star-spitzer-space-telescope/"},"headline":"Mysterious Milky Way Star: Very Old or Very Young?","datePublished":"2016-08-30T19:37:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:17:23.099Z","description":"\"It has something new to tell us about the life cycles of stars”","url":"https://time.com/4472656/milky-way-star-spitzer-space-telescope/","keywords":["Space","NASA","Science topic","photography","star","one-pic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77ef30eb0b6424aa/6988a4342dce01f92f9ea79b/spitzer-star.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Marisa Gertz","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/marisa-gertz/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77ef30eb0b6424aa/6988a4342dce01f92f9ea79b/spitzer-star.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"spitzer-star","caption":"An age-defying star designated as IRAS 19312+1950 exhibits features characteristic of a very young star and a very old star.","creditText":"NASA/JPL-Caltech","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4472656/milky-way-star-spitzer-space-telescope/","name":"Mysterious Milky Way Star: Very Old or Very Young?"}}]}] ```