Mira! Speeding-Bullet Star Leaves Enormous Streak Across Sky
NASA Galex Mission: Speeding-Bullet Star Leaves Enormous Streak Across Sky
Quote:
NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer has spotted an amazingly long comet-like tail behind a star streaking through space at supersonic speeds. The star, named Mira after the Latin word for "wonderful," has been a favorite of astronomers for about 400 years. It is a fast-moving, older star called a red giant that sheds massive amounts of surface material.
The space-based Galaxy Evolution Explorer scanned the popular star during its ongoing survey of the entire sky in ultraviolet light. Astronomers then noticed what looked like a comet with a gargantuan tail. In fact, material blowing off Mira is forming a wake 13 light-years long, or about 20,000 times the average distance of Pluto from the sun. Nothing like this has ever been seen before around a star.
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More poetic text: BA Blog: The Wonderful
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Last edited by 01101001; 15-August-2007 at 09:22 PM..
Reason: Wider picture
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15-August-2007, 07:20 PM
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