Bow Shock Discovered Around Mira Star R Hydrae

[newmoon]

From KenCroswell.com:<br /><br /> An arc-shaped nebula near the star R Hydrae is the first bow shock ever seen around a pulsating red giant, say astronomers using the Spitzer Space Telescope. The bow shock arises as material streaming off the star slams into the interstellar medium.

 

[3488]

Very interesting. I would have thought that most stars will have bow shocks as they orbit the galactic centre, seeing as gas / dust is endemic in intersteller space. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[robnissen]

"I would have thought that most stars will have bow shocks as they orbit the galactic centre, seeing as gas / dust is endemic in intersteller space."<br /><br />That is almost certainly correct. This is the first bow-shock to be SEEN.

 

[newmoon]

Astronomers have seen bow shocks around some other stars before. However, R Hydrae's bow shock is the first to be seen around a Mira (a pulsating red giant). The image is rather cool, too.